


Fate: Carnal Phantasm

by OverMaster



Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:34:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26312716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverMaster/pseuds/OverMaster
Summary: The Holy Grail War has an even more disturbing secret than usual. A young woman summons the Saber, who has a startling revelation for her. And Heroic Spirit EMIYA heeds the call of a loved one just to witness a chain of events he never could have predicted. The Grail wants to spawn the children of tomorrow, but what does that mean for the world and for Emiya Shirou?
Relationships: Emiya Shirou/Mitsuzuri Ayako
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11
Collections: FATE: Unlimited Paths v2





	1. Chapter 1

_Fate/Stay Night_ , _Carnival Phantasm_ , _Fate EXTRA_ , _Fate Extella_ , _Fate Hollow Ataraxia_ , _Fate Grand Order_ , _Fate Zero_ , _Fate Kaleid Prisma Illya_ , _Fate Apocrypha_ , _Fate Prototype_ , _Fate: Today's Menu for the Emiya Family_ , _Fate Requiem_ , _Fate Strange/Fake_ , _Fate School Life_ , _Fate Tiger Colosseum_ , _Fate Unlimited Codes_ , _Fate Capsule Servant_ , _Fate: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files_ and _Fate Type/Redline_ are the creations and intellectual properties of Type-Moon and Nasu Kinoko.

All other franchises and characters mentioned within this story are the intellectual properties of their respective copyright and trademark holders.

* * *

**Fate: Carnal Phantasm.**

* * *

**Act One.**

* * *

Sajyou Ayaka gasped from her awkward sitting position on the floor of her father's old library, staring up at the figure that had just appeared standing over her. It was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, with a delicate and fair face that was nonetheless cold and devoid of feelings. Her eyes were large, round and light green, and her hair a pale shade of golden blonde, pulled back into a small bun. She wore a long dress of regal blue cloth, along with a metal chestplate and armored gauntlets and boots. In a hand she held the sturdy handle of a sword, apparently unattached to any blade.

"I am Servant Saber," she told her, bathed from behind by the silver moonlight filtered through the window, with a calm and aloof voice. "I ask of you, are you my Master?"

The brown haired, bespectacled, blue eyed young girl took on this vision of extreme beauty for a few moments, fascinated... and then shook her head violently, terrified out of her wits. "N-No! No way! Not at all, no sir!"

The blonde nodded. "I'll assume that's a yes, then. Negatives are usually conveyed as- Excuse me?"

But then, zooming across the air, the gun toting madwoman who had been chasing Ayaka around from school broke into the library, cackling and shooting guns akimbo-style with those two flintlocks of hers, and this 'Saber' immediately spun around, swinging her hilt with both hands, and just as soon, there was a thundering boom, and the madwoman was swatted by some invisible force, directly back out of the house and onto the Sajyou home's backyard.

* * *

Sajyou Ayaka was no Heroine of Justice, nor did she have any delusions of ever becoming one.

As soon as the 'Saber' had jumped out through the new large hole in the wall to chase after the madwoman, Ayaka didn't set out after her, she wasn't worried about whether they'd kill each other or not. Instead, she ran the opposite way, rushing up the old, creaking stairs, and raced into her bedroom, locking herself up and throwing the blankets over her head.

She bundled up on the bed, shivering in terror, and thought back of ten years ago. The girl closed her eyes and tried to control her desperate breathing, ignoring the shouts and shots coming from below.

She had no idea whether she was missing an epic battle between warriors from the past or not, and frankly, she didn't give a damn. She'd never asked for any of this. So she didn't want to acknowledge it. That was her right, dammit! Once in a lifetime was more than enough, nobody deserved going through one of these 'Grail War' things more than once!

Finally, a chilling silence settled in, and somehow, against her expectations, it was even more terrifying that all of the previous noise. Even the neighbors had stopped yelling.

She knew better than to harbor, even for a second, such a stupid fantasy of hoping it had been all a dream. No, real life didn't work that way. Dreams were easy to recognize for what they were, and you woke up as soon as you realized them. Reality, on the other hand, has always been impossible to escape from.

So Ayaka simply kept on waiting in a tearful silence, hugging the blankets and grinding her face on the mattress. Calling the police briefly crossed her mind- Commissioner Kosaka had been a friend of her father- but she soon decided against it with the grim certainty of futility. There was nothing the police could help regarding things like this.

It couldn't be helped.

Ayaka heard the serene steps coming up the stairs and braced herself. They were too sedate for the madwoman to be responsible, but in a way, that only made it all the worse.

Someone fumbled lightly with the doorknob from the outside. They pushed the door open, slow and carefully. Ayaka did not move, and as a matter of fact stopped breathing.

Saber walked in, and closed the door after herself just as quietly. "I thought I recognized you," she said to the shivering bundle, her voice tranquil and patient. "You are Ayaka-chan, aren't you?"

"Go away, please," Ayaka begged, in a very small and subdued voice.

"I won't do that out of my own volition even if you tell me to, sorry," the blonde lowered her head respectfully, "but there are, of course, means you can resort to if you truly wish to reinforce this decision. You remember the Command Seals, don't you?"

Bitterly, Ayaka stared at the still itching stylized red marks on the back of her own hand. "Yeah..."

"How much," Saber decided to cut directly to the point, "do you actually remember about Heaven's Feel?"

"There are seven of you," Ayaka finally shot her a hostile glare from between the blankets. "Saber, Rider, Berserker, Lancer, Caster, Archer and Killer."

"Assassin," Saber gently corrected her. "And that's not quite exactly-"

"You kill each other for the rights to a sacred cup, the Holy Grail, so you can get a wish upon it, and-!"

Saber now interrupted her in turn. "Wait. Stop for a moment, if you please. Is that what Manaka told you?"

Ayaka paused, staring without understanding at her sister's Servant, which was now hers. Apparently. "Well... Yes, that is the premise, isn't it? Once you have destroyed each other, the Holy Grail will appear, and the last of you left standing will seize it to wish for whatever you want..."

Saber sighed, taking a hand to her own forehead and closing her eyes. "Well, I suppose she saw fit explaining it that way. You were only a child, back then."

Ayaka sat up on the bed, finally letting the blankets roll off her body, still clad in the Mahora high school uniform. She hadn't even taken the shoes off yet. "What do you mean?"

"The Holy Grail is not an object. _It is a person._ "

_**"What?!"** _

"Also, the means to reach the Root through the Holy Grail and achieve fulfillment aren't quite as simple as merely wishing upon it."

_**"You mean it's even more complicated than that?!"** _

"No, no, the mechanics are actually rather simple," Saber reassured her. "You are to find the person who acts as the vessel for the Grail. Then you and your Servant need to have intercourse with him, so the holy seed invades your bodies- our bodies- and takes root in them. The resulting children will be special, illuminated beings, higher entities with a connection to the Root, who will revolutionize the world. That is the true mission of the Heaven's Feel system, it's just that every Grail conduit so far has been killed in the struggles of the War, and the ritual was never completed to the extent it was meant to."

After this matter-of-factly delivered explanation, Saber turned her stoic eyes back onto the paralyzed, crimson-faced, suddenly very sweaty Ayaka, and asked her, "Do you mean you never bothered to read on it after Manaka died?"

_**"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!-?!"** _

* * *

After last time's fiasco, Emiya Kiritsugu had decided not to use a catalyst.

The small, dingy motel room by the train station should suffice while he returned home next morning. He wouldn't risk, after all, make his summon in any proximity to the children.

The tall, lean black haired man with the tired eyes took a deep breath, pulled the gray coat off his otherwise fully black clad frame, and began rolling his sleeves up. "Okay, no point on stalling this," he muttered.

He drew the circle on the floor with chalk and stepped back, placing a hand over it and closing his eyes as he chanted in a grim, driven voice.

_"Let silver and steel be the essence."_

The circle began glowing faintly, almost immediately. Whoever this Heroic Spirit was, he was eager to heed his call. That probably was a good sign, the first one in a while.

_"Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation."_

The glow grew brighter, and the Command Seals on Kiritsugu's flesh raised their challenge with a burning sensation.

_"Let red be the color I pay tribute to. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close."_

A low pitched howl began filling the room, and the tiny hairs on the back of Kiritsugu's neck stiffened, the rest of his body screaming in the pain of Magic Circuits damaged for a decade. He ignored the pain, for he was well used to doing that, and pressed on.

_"Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate. Let it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again!"_

A curtain of red and black vapor huffed and puffed from the floor, rising before him, and the vague silhouette of a human appeared in its midst. Taller than Kiritsugu himself, a great hero no doubt, his child's savior.

The pain became unbearable. Kiritsugu bore it anyway.

_"Let it be filled fivefold for every turn!"_ he finished with a scream. _"Simply breaking asunder with every filling!"_

The vapor exploded in all directions, actually pushing the mature man back, and then he squinted through the dissipating mists of time, staring at what he had brought upon this world.

It was a man indeed, one featuring hardened golden eyes and a deeply tanned skin tone; his hair was cropped short and white. Black, fitting body armor covered him from his legs to the neck, with silver accents around the ribcage and broad chest. He also wore an open red coat over it, adding to his modern appearance, more akin to that of a television or videogame hero than a warrior drawn from the mists of time.

"I'm Servant Archer," this man said, in a slow, virile tone that nonetheless cracked ever so slightly when he got his own clear view of his summoner. "Are you... my... Master?"

Kiritsugu took a quick mental note of this Heroic Spirit's apparent surprise before nodding curtly at him. "Yes. My name is Emiya Kiritsugu. Yours?"

Archer kept on staring silently at his face for a moment before sighing and lowering his head. "Archer. I believe I spoke clearly the first time."

"No, no, you know what I mean," his father said, not giving an inch this time.

"It would appear I have partial amnesia," Archer said truthfully, even if failing to address the nature of his extent. He remembered Rin's stories about his summon, he remembered his father's death, and thus he remembered enough to know this wasn't happening the way it was meant to be happening. It couldn't be that he could be in the Fourth War either, as he also remembered Illya's stories and this smelly dump definitely wasn't the Einzbern Castle. Besides, Father looked too old for that timeframe. But there were other things that he couldn't remember quite clearly, and that bothered him. "Perhaps there was a mistake with your summon."

"That is strange," Father frowned at him. "I made sure of following the process to the letter, and nothing like this happened last time."

_Last time?!_ Archer thought.

The old man sighed, rubbing his wrist. "But," he pondered, looking at it, "I suppose I'm not what I used to be. Do you remember the basics of the War, then?"

"Of course," he nodded. "We are to kill the other Six classes and their Masters, so the Holy Grail appears before us. Then we will state the wishes of our hearts before them, and-"

"What are you talking about? Six Classes?" Kiritsugu grunted. "The Holy Grail, just appearing out of nowhere on its own? You really don't remember, do you?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand... Master," said Archer, trying to remain as composed as ever.

"As I thought. Heaven's Feel is a ritual of death and rebirth. The Eros and the Thanatos compete over dominance over the emerging Grail, and you are marked as an agent of Thanatos by virtue of gender," he wearily told him. "Our mission is to slay the human vessel for the Holy Cup before the Mary Magdalene lies with him and spawns what they would call the Messiah of the Root, reborn from the Grail's blood."

"What," Archer said.

Kiritsugu nodded patiently. "Of course, we are meant to follow a different approach than that of female Masters and Servants. Where they would give birth to the bridge to the Root, we are to cut the vessel to pieces, pour his blood into a literal cup, and then wish upon it. Fulfillment, then, born from the savior's murder, rather than his lineage. It's a sick, sick world."

_Wow,_ Archer pondered quietly. _They managed to find a way to make the whole thing even MORE blasphemous than before. I guess I'm impressed._

Kiritsugu took a cigarette out and lit it up, puffing sadly on it. "That ringing any bells yet, Archer?"

"So, just to be sure, female Masters and Servants are to-"

"Find the Grail carrier and bear his children, yes, yes," he nodded mechanically. "It's not that hard to comprehend, is it?"

_No. Just difficult to accept._ "And why don't they just follow the path of least resistance, as well? Why don't they just aim to kill this living Grail themselves?"

Kiritsugu scoffed. "Don't say nonsense, Archer, that's like saying we could get pregnant by him if we tried taking their way. It wouldn't work. That's why they are agents of Eros and we are on the side of Thanatos. Any more questions?"

"No, I think I understand everything now. But that is seriously fucked up," he said, speaking his mind openly. "And I was fully willing to just go out there and kill everyone, before you told me this."

"I know, right? Well, you can rest now if you want to. Tomorrow, we will head into the city and start scouting around," he went over to sit down on his bed and pull his shirt off. "We've got a long way ahead of ourselves."

"Just one more question after all. Is there any way to make educated guesses on this Grail's... identity? It'd help us greatly if-"

"Normally, it's impossible for anyone to be sure about the Grail's host body until the ritual is complete, but the evidence starts mounting as the Servants are slain and the Grail blooms," Father explained in a distant tone. "Doesn't matter, _**I** _already know. I was there when the Grail was shattered, ten years ago, and its contents took over another. I saw it all. I know who he is, and where he lives."

Archer smiled. "Then the War is ours already." His heart was actually pumping harder at the idea of fighting together. "Let's just seize this person, hold them hostage, and after we kill every Servant-"

_**"No!"** _

Archer recoiled despite himself, seeing Kiritsugu's suddenly very alive and quite furious eyes turned fully on him, with a look he'd never seen from him before. "But... why?!"

"No matter what the rules say," the older man hissed. "No matter the odds! No matter what you think even, I'm fully willing to use all of these for him, and believe me, good as I'm sure you are, I still have ways to have you killed before you kill me!" he actually seethed, angrily poking a finger on his Command Seals for him. "I swear, you won't harm a single hair on his head, and you will help me protect his life, at all costs!"

Archer kept on staring at him, so outraged that he actually briefly forgot who he was, so great was his sudden urge to kill him.

"He is my son," Kiritsugu added, lowering his head.

Archer lowered the blades he had just summoned to his hands.

"Do you still want to slay me, find yourself another Master?" Emiya flipped the spent cigarette onto the floor, making a cockroach scurry away. "It shouldn't be that hard, for an Archer... _if_ you truly are faster than me. I could surprise you, even now." There was a beat, as he kept on watching his Seals. "But, you had to know all of this, if we truly are to work together. I learned hard lessons on being a Master last time. If you truly are compatible with me, then I'd like to think you would be willing, at the very least, to wait and see. That's all I'm asking from you, the easy way. I'll use the hard one if necessary, but I'd like it best if that we don't have to."

"You are," Archer told him, with a strange mix of fondness and disappointment, "an old fool."

_Oyaji._

Kiritsugu had to chuckle. "You know what they say. Once a fool..."

"You aren't selling yourself as the best of Masters," Archer said, folding his arms and scowling as he looked out, through the window, into a nocturnal sky draping over the city. "How did you expect for anyone to go along with any of this?"

The person he hated the most in the world. The old man had no way of knowing that, of course, but he had still lost his head, if he thought any Servant would follow him willingly after being told that. The fact the Grail was, on top of being the Grail, _**that person**_ only made Archer even more disgusted to follow this plan of action.

Maybe he should just chop his hand off and pass the Seals to someone else. The old man would survive that, he could survive any-

And then the Archer remembered that no, he couldn't.

He looked down at him, sitting on the edge of that cheap bed and staring at him with dull eyes full with every jaded concern in the world, the eyes of a man pushed to foolish desperate extremes against his own will, and the Heroic Spirit that had tumbled through time couldn't help but feeling everything was secondary when compared to his love for this wrecked shell of a man and his cursed, foolish ideals.

For them, he had gone to hell more than once. Another time would make no difference.

The Archer lowered his head respectfully. "Things are what they are. You are the Master and I'm the Servant. Save those Spells for when we really need them."

The man smiled, even if vaguely, his thanks, and for the first time in far too long, Archer, too, actually felt happy in a way.

* * *

"- and then she told me, 'Yes, but the batteries aren't included', can you believe it?!" Fujimura Taiga finished, before taking another huge mouthful with her chopsticks and stuffing it down her mouth. "That girl, really, I won't know what will we ever do with her. So immature...!" she added, struggling to speak around the large mass pushing against the walls of her throat, helping it down with a two-finger massage.

The red haired young man with golden brown eyes flinched, not so much at the display of mindless gluttony- he'd grown numb to such horrors long ago, having Fuji-nee as a regular houseguest- but at the latest complete destruction of a school icon's image. "I see... I'll never be able to look at Kirisu-sensei the same way again, then. Thank you very much... I think."

"You're welcome!" the woman with short brown hair peppily said, sticks now flashing over to grab another, smaller bite from Shirou's plate. "I don't know why you always let these things impress you so much, teachers are people too, you know! Well, Nitta and Kuzuki-kun are living machines, but they don't count. They never do." She helped this one down with a chug from her glass of juice and exhaled contentedly. "I'm sure they're saying even worse things about me right now, so why should I bite my tongue down for their sake?!"

"Yeah, I'm sure they are," Illya-chan said, swatting the chopsticks away with her small white hand as they mischievously flickered over to take another stab at her plate next. The silver haired, red eyed small albino in the elementary school uniform sighed. "Can't say why they would, though...!"

"Well, most of them have some kind of envy problem or another, it's understandable," Taiga said magnanimously, then looked at her wristwatch. "Okay, Shirou, Illya-chan, finish already, on your feet and get moving!" she snappily commanded, taking a last large gulp of juice and then reaching for a toothpick. "If I'm late again because of you two, I swear, I'm gonna have to start taking drastic measures, like stopping coming over to pick you, or something!"

"Oh, please don't, Neesan, that'd be such a huge loss," Illyasviel von Einzbern-Emiya deadpanned, already helping the two maids of milky faces and ethereal red eyes pick the plates up while Shirou was in the kitchen, washing his own dishes. "I don't know how we would ever cope..."

The matriarch of the family laughed good-naturedly, still sitting at the head of the table, in a light, long sleeved white blouse and knee-length blue shorts. She was pretty much Illya's exact image, but two decades older looking, and full of well placed curves everywhere, a gentle mature softness to her features. She brought her hands together on the table and contemplated her family's usual domestic bliss before speaking, making sure to sound as gentle as ever.

"Zero-chan, are you sure you won't wait a little longer?" she asked Taiga, who stopped picking her teeth clean and blinked curiously at her. "No, there's no extra dessert. It's just that, well, we should have someone drop any moment now," she added, looking at the clock ticking on the wall.

Shirou peeked his head out of the kitchen, and Illya blinked a few times, growing alert. "Do you mean...?!"

Their mother giggled and winked an eye. "I got a call last niiiiiiight!" she sing-sang.

"Wah, why didn't you tell us before?!" Illya said, letting her plate on top of that Sella was carrying before darting to her mother's side. "Are you sure it's going to be today?! Did, did he give you any guarantees?!"

"He already made it back to the city, he just had to spend the night by the train station," Irisviel said, placing a hand on her head. "Any moment now, surely, he-"

"Aaaaaaand that is his cue," Leysritt absently said from where she and her twin had taken Shirou's place to wash the dishes, the heads of both Emiya siblings snapping towards the front door of the large house.

A moment later, the door rang, and Illya raced for it. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy...!"

Irisviel sighed, getting up from her chair. "Did he lose the keys again, or is he just making a scene? This man, seriously, he'll never change..." She, a smiling Shirou and a cattily grinning Taiga made their way towards where Illya was throwing the door open and tossing herself into the open arms of the black haired man standing there.

_"My Daddy...!"_

Archer's astral form, hanging shortly behind Kiritsugu, could only behold in disbelief. His first instinct was to focus on the boy, who looked just like he remembered him, but even that concern was pushed back as he saw Illya, giving the pure innocent giggle of the children as she hugged their father. Illya, the same Illya he'd met while commanding a gigantic living machine of murder and destruction, carrying herself like any well adjusted child, Kiritsugu holding her high in his arms and spinning her around as they both laughed.

The longer he spent in this world, the less sense it made.

"Dear," a woman who looked so much like a grown Illya was saying now, moving towards Father as he let Illya on the floor. He drew her to him and they kissed, and Archer only stared on, trying to assimilate all of this. Fuji-nee was there as well, laughing her foolish head off, and from where he was, he could see Sella and Leysritt, in civilian clothes, finishing the dishes by the kitchen sink. Then he glared at the boy, who had moved on to shake Father's hand as the older man slapped his shoulder.

Why, the nerve of this bastard...! Why was he living in a romantic comedy?!

"I brought something for you as well, Shirou," Kiritsugu was saying, pulling a small fat cat figurine waving a paw up and down, while Illya and Taiga stuffed their mouths with imported candy. "For the good luck."

"Ahhh, thank you, I'll put it next to the one Mom bought me..." Shirou promised, accepting the gift, and making Archer remember his own lucky cat, now destroyed so long ago, no doubt, one that HIS father had ordered online from China for him. And this... This motherfucker had TWO of them!? Where was the justice in this fucking world?!

Oh well. At the very least, Illya was happy here. That was good, it gave him a new reason to fight to the end. And Fuji-nee... Fuji-nee was still the same, of course. All in all, he couldn't really feel bitter about this twist of events, it would be selfish on his part, as long as-

"Daddy," Illya said, "did you know? Oniichan's started dating Ayako-neechan...!"

Oh, no! The urge to kill was RISING again...!

Wait, what the hell?! _**Mitsuzuri?!**_

* * *

"Where," Ayaka glared coldly at Saber, "do you think you are going?"

The blonde blinked while standing there, in a school uniform taken from Ayaka's wardrobe. "Isn't it obvious? I need to stand by your side at all times, or else you could be approached, kidnapped and dispatched by any given enemy, especially an Assassin."

"Well, yes, but you're dead!" Ayaka threw her hands up. "Aren't you? So, um, I'm pretty sure you guys have ghost forms, just go invisible and follow me around that way if you're that worried about it!"

Saber paused. "Oh. Once again, it would seem you only have been given incomplete information. Male Servants can assume astral forms allowing for intangibility, but then, their purpose isn't reproduction, just annihilation of the Grail human vessel. We need a physical body to bear children, so the Grail grants us one for the duration of our stay upon the living. It is a much larger draw of mana from the system, which is why male Servants tend to be more mana-efficient, but the Grail's energies are infinite and you only have to worry about supplying enough of it to keep this body going, not to sustain its material existence as such."

Ayaka ran a hand down her own face. "I'm sure that breaks like half of the laws of magic I've ever studied... So, basically, you are saying that if I stop giving you mana, you'll just drop dead, but your body won't vanish _like any dead ghost's body should?"_

"Quite."

"Aargh, this is what Neesan struggled so hard for?!" Ayaka despaired. "Listen, Saber! I'm too young to have any children with a man I don't know-!"

"It might be a man you know," Saber pointed out. "Technically, if these are the grounds the Grail will choose to materialize, then the odds favor its host being a local, just like you..."

"With my luck it could be Konoemon-sensei!" Ayaka said. "I don't care if it's Chris Evans, I don't want to have children, ever! I can't believe you are happy with the idea of doing so, either!"

"I am not," Saber confirmed, "but that is besides the point. The ultimate reward surpasses even my reservations. This dream of mine, the one pulling me back to your family, is something I would even give my life for, and the other Servants must feel the same. Otherwise, they wouldn't even answer the call of the Grail."

Ayaka frowned. "What is big and important enough that you'd even get pregnant by a complete stranger to achieve it?"

Saber lowered her head. "I need to undo what I did in life. All the damage I ever brought upon my country and loved ones. Everyone I ever knew suffered because of me, and any struggles and sacrifices I undergo to compensate them will be paid gladly, as long as my actions can be redeemed."

"Oh, come on, Saber. Who were you in life? Pol Pot?"

"Don't tempt Fate, Ayaka, higher forces are somewhere out there, listening," Saber said with a perfectly straight face. "I give my word I won't disturb your lessons. I won't try and register myself as your new classmate, as there is no way that could possibly ever work. I promise I will only keep watch on you from afar."

"Oh, very well...!"

* * *

The stonefaced mature man with obscuring glasses sitting on a sharply angular face kept on lecturing with a completely flat delivery at Ayaka's classroom.

" _'Gregor,' a voice called. It was his mother. 'It's quarter to seven. Don't you want to be on your way?' The soft voice! Gregor was startled when he heard his voice_ \- Huh?" he tilted his head as the source of that strange disturbance he'd been feeling for a while now intensifying. So far he could ignore it, as one grew to ignore most unnatural disturbances while teaching at Mahora, and you eventually learned to separate the harmless ones from those which required you to leap out through the window and start murdering, but this one was growing too intense already. "Are Class 3-F attacking us again?"

Ayaka hid her face in her hands as she, too, could feel a high pitched, annoyed vibration of sorts coming from outside. "I can't take this, I really can't..." she mumbled to herself.

_**JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII...**_ Saber glared on while half hiding behind a tree.

* * *

"Did you hear? It seems Sajyou has a stalker now!"

"Who?"

"The Crow Girl, silly! Kuzuki-sensei called her out on it today, she's got a foreigner following her everywhere!"

"Seriously? That lucky weirdo! Well, I guess she's not that bad looking. What about the guy? Is he handsome?"

"Yeah, well, about that..."

* * *

"These grounds are actually fairly welcoming, much more than I remember Fuyuki ever being," Saber said while sitting under a tree during the lunch break with an extremely mortified Ayaka, picking into a bento box with her chopsticks and digging in. "I hope you won't mind, I found money in your pockets and, since we are partners..."

Ayaka clenched and unclenched her hands. "Aaahhh, you don't know anything about the way high school works! By now everyone's saying you're my girlfriend or something weird like that! You didn't have to be so obvious while watching me!"

"My apologies, stealth never was my strong suite. I had others handling that part of warfare for me," Saber apologized with a bow of her head. "If I had thought being perceived as a lesbian would trouble you so much, I'd have found myself a boy's uniform somewhere."

"They don't allow boys here, that's why it is the female wing!" Ayaka lamented, massaging her aching temples with both hands. "You'd just have beaten some poor schmuck up and stolen his clothes anyway!"

"Far from me. That would be a dishonor. I'd have used your money to buy myself one instead."

"That's stealing, too!"

"We are partners. What is yours, hence, is also mine, and viceversa," Saber offered. "You have barely eaten anything, please open up and say 'ah-ah...'" she requested, holding the two sticks trapping a chunk of fried octopus between them right in front of Ayaka's mouth.

Ayaka slapped the chopsticks away. "C-Cut that out! If anyone sees us, they'll really think we are girlfriends!"

"Look at it this way," Saber lectured. "We are going to be bearing children from the same man, so in a fashion, we are going to be part of the same carnal relationship. At that point everyone will be thinking that regardless, so-"

"We aren't going to be doing anything," Ayaka grouched, running her fingers through her own hair. "Tonight, we're visiting the church and we'll be splitting ways. I was reading all night long through the notes Neesan left, and I could decipher enough to learn I can get the Church coordinator, whoever he is, to sever our contract. Then, for all I care, you can get yourself anyone you want as your Master, and good luck with that!"

Saber looked at her, with a bland, impossible to read, expression. Ayaka was actually afraid for a moment and decided to just go for all or nothing. "W-Well, sorry, but I'm not ready for anything like this!" she waved her hands at her. "That's unfair from you, expecting so much of me when I'm only seventeen! I have college to look up to, and-!"

Saber put a finger on her lips delicately, forcing her mouth close. She gestured with a hand, and the handle of the invisible sword came to it. "We'll debate that later, Ayaka," she promised. "In the meanwhile, there are more pressing matters to attend."

Ayaka realized the blonde was not looking at her, but past her, and so she glanced back over her shoulder as well. She gasped. Two girls in matching uniforms were approaching. One of them was a graciously proportioned, black haired, twintailed and simply gorgeous green eyed school idol. That, on its own, was bad enough.

But it was the appearance of the other girl which really terrified Ayaka, as from her long black hair, her wicked wide smile, and the unsettling glint in her large red eyes, it was clear she was the same madwoman from last night after a wardrobe change. "Oh, crap..." the poor girl muttered, unconsciously edging closer to Saber.

"T-Tuh-Tohsaka-san!" Ayaka gulped, as the girl at the lead stopped right before her and Saber.

Tohsaka Rin smiled very kindly and politely at her. "Good morning, Sajyou-san. Nice to see you healthy and well. I dearly apologize over last night's incident."

"W-W-Which incident?"

"Well, you know, the one where my associate Archer-san harassed you over the simple fact of witnessing a... skirmish between her and a... fellow exchange student," the top tier student replied, gesturing with a hand at the girl who kept on making a throat slicing motion towards Ayaka, while Saber glared threateningly at her in turn. "I tried my best to break them up myself, I really did, but then Archer-san flew off my handle and ran after you. It couldn't be helped, she can be very sensitive that way."

"Ah, ah, that was her? I had no idea!" Ayaka laughed stiffly, giving small hiccups of panic. "That's fine, no use crying over spilled milk! Um, nice to m-meet you, Archer-san, muh-muh name is Sajyou Ayaka..."

"I'm more interested," Archer leered on, all but lurching towards Saber's sitting form and managing to look imposing and menacing despite her own small stature, "on _**her**_ name. Why won't she talk? Is she mute, or-"

"I'm Saber," Saber dryly said, making Tohsaka Rin's eyes widen. "Please step back from Ayaka. Unless you want us to settle this already, somewhere else?"

"Well, not only you speak, but you started with the magic words...!" the Archer chuckled from the bottom of her throat, the fire rising in her eyes. "Right what I wanted to hear, the sooner the-"

"Saber. Saber, eh?" Tohsaka said, imposing silence with a hand gesture. The Archer frowned, but restrained her tongue regardless. "Saber, I see... Well. Well, well, well played, Sajyou-san. I will tell you what." She pulled a small piece of paper and a pen out, and began writing with exquisite flair and penmanship. "I suggest meeting tonight, at the hour and place noted here, so I can offer further apologies on Archer's behalf while Archer shoots Saber dead and full of holes. Would you agree with those terms of engagement?"

"Yes, we do," Saber firmly said.

"N-No, no, we don't!" Ayaka said, panicking and shaking her head. "No, no, we absolutely do not, sorry! Sending an apology note and a basket of fruit will suffice, sorry!"

"Fine with me too!" the Archer snickered evilly. "Three to one, majority wins! Who'd ever say it, democracy works after all!"

"Life is always full of surprises, Archer," Rin delicately said, leaning ahead to push the note into Ayaka's breast pocket with a finger, after folding it neatly. "I look forward to a sportsmanlike encounter then, as befits two scions of illustrious families, Sajyou-san. It has been a real pleasure."

"Ah..." Ayaka gulped a gigantic knot made of cement down. "S-Sure thing!"

Rin turned back on her heels elegantly and began walking away. "Until then, in that case. Come along, Archer."

Archer huffed and began marching behind her, making sure to move in a way as delinquent looking as possible, to contrast with the Master's airs of sophistication. "I won't mind, but keep in mind it's only because it'll give them more time to despair..."

Saber frowned to herself, watching them go. "Despairing! That dolt doesn't know the meaning of the word yet, but she will." She then looked back at Ayaka and casually commented. "Unless, of course, you still intend to cut our contract short and face them on your own?"

"Please shut up!"

* * *

"Why did you bring me here?" Ayaka asked, noticing how Saber had just led her to the gates of the local Mary Magdalene church. "I told you already, I'm not giving you up yet, so why are you doing this? Are you the one wanting to drop out now?"

"Hardly," Saber said, taking Ayaka by a hand and walking her in. "However, procedures and traditions must be followed alike, all the same, and we haven't registered yet. Should I fall, you can take refuge within these walls, where you will be protected from the rest of Masters and Servants. At least, that was how it was last time. We will see soon enough, I imagine."

"How did you even know the church's location? Were you here before, with Neesan?"

"No, Manaka registered me at the Fuyuki Church. But I'm a defender of the faith, I can detect a house of the Lord easily from afar, no matter the distance."

"..." Ayaka said.

"Also, I looked it up in Google Maps last night while you slept," Saber confessed.

Ayaka shivered as they advanced down the lonely main hall of the church. Only two apprentices, part of the orphans the nuns looked after, were anywhere in sight, sweeping the steps leading to the altar. To be precise, only one of them, a little girl with deeply tanned skin and long black hair, was sweeping, sporting a complete lack of expression. The other one, a junior high aged thin girl with short light brown hair, sat nearby, submerged into the manga she was reading.

Saber cleared her throat in a commanding tone, and both apprentices paid attention. "Yeah?" the older of the two kouhais asked. "How can we help you?"

"We... We are here to see your Supervisor on an important subject," Ayaka shyly asked back. "Can we talk with him, please?"

"Which Supervisor?" the older kouhai said. "You've gotta be more specific. Father Garterbelt is the Supervisor of Confessions, Sister Yukariko is the Supervisor of Public Relationships, Sister Eda is the Budget Supervisor, Sister Kate is the Supervisor of Charities, Father Kotomine is the Supervisor of the Committee for the Diffusion of the Faith, Sister Shakti is the Supervisor of Discipline, and Sister Yolanda is the General Supervisor."

"Kotomine, I recognize that name," Saber said. "Kotomine Risei, you mean?"

"Ah, Father... Risei, yeah, right?" the girl scratched her head. "No, he died ten years ago in the Fuyuki fires, I think. This is his son, Father Kirei..."

"His... son?" Ayaka blinked. "Wait, you mean his _adopted_ son, don't you? What with him being a Catholic church and all of that..."

The girl stared on at her, blankly. "I intend to marry my homeroom teacher someday," she bluntly confided in them.

The tiny girl spoke quietly, going back to sweeping. "Too much information, Misora..."

"W-Well, good for you, but you are an apprentice!" Ayaka said, already at her wits' end. "You'll just hang the habits, won't you!"

The weird kouhai stared at her again. "... you are very naive in the ways of the world, aren't you, Sempai?"

"Wait a second, you are Class 3-A, aren't you! You'd have to be!" Ayaka accused her. "Never mind any of that anyway, take us to this Father Kirei then!"

"I cannot. Like anyone could tell from its name, the Committee for the Diffusion of the Faith demands for Father Kotomine to spend most of his time away on errands, and he only comes here once a month, at most."

"Well, in that case take us to Sister Yolanda!"

"Can't do either, the Sister is a very busy woman and you need filing an official appointment with her one week prior," Kasuga Misora lectured piously. "Leave your names, a phone number, an e-mail address and your physical address, please..."

"We can't wait that long!" Ayaka stomped a foot down. "Look, we just want to talk someone on one of these things that aren't a sin and so don't fall under Confessions, but that can't be spoken about openly either! I don't know if you've got the clearance OR age to know about those things, so just point us to any adult present here, and we'll discuss it with them, okay?!"

Misora blinked at them, her eyes turned into small black spots. "...?"

Ayaka slapped herself on the face and began making a quite interesting sizzling sound.

Misora laughed lamely. "Ah ha ha, you remind me of a classmate of mine...!"

"If you want to speak to Sister Kiara on the Holy Grail War, it's that way, two doors at the right," Cocone detachedly said, now polishing one of the crosses in display with a wet cloth, and pointing another way. "Whatever you do, _**don't**_ give her your phone, e-mail or physical address. Good night."

"... oh, it's about _that!_ " Misora finally understood, then waved them that way. "Yeah, what she said. Good luck with, um, those things you people do." She went back to her manga indifferently. "The exit's through the back, so you really don't have to come back this way, good night."

"... interesting people," Ayaka said, a bit disturbed, as they followed the way they'd been told down an oppressively narrow side hallway.

"We obviously come from different worlds, it's for our mutual best if we forget about them from now on," Saber mused before reaching the door marked 'Sessyoin K.- Department of Additional Operations' and rapping her knuckles on it. "Sister Kiara? We are here to register."

At first, there was no answer, nor any other sign they had been heard, or that there was anyone in the office, period.

Ayaka tried to look over Saber's shoulder and through the opaque glass plaque on the door. "Maybe those two useless kouhais just dumped us here for laughs?" she wondered aloud. "It doesn't look like this is the place."

Then she did a full body shudder and yelped, as she felt soft hands coming from behind to tenderly cup her buttocks, as a silky voice caressed the back of her neck. "Oh, don't say that. They're both good girls, so innocent..."

"Gah, gah, YAHHHHH!" Ayaka stumbled ahead, pushing Saber roughly against the door's frame and then spinning around in place, to face the placidly smiling shapely young nun with her hands folded before herself, pointing a finger at her and accusing, red-faced, "Bad touch! BAD TOUCH! See, this is why the Church just can't get a good reputation!"

"Ara ara, sorry, did I offend?" the nun asked with a gentle laugh, taking a hand to her fair skinned cheek. "My hands slipped, I'm just so clumsy...! I was in the room for little nuns right now, but I happened to overhear you are here on the subject of Heaven's Feel?"

Ayaka gulped, keeping her distance and standing aside, letting Sister Kiara walk past them and into the office, without making any sound, as if she was just sliding on her feet. "Uh, yes, sorry to disturb, my name's Sajyou Ayaka, and this is-"

"Oh, a Sajyou," the woman said affably, sitting behind a large black desk, and kindly beckoning them in. Saber closed the door after them, and they both took chairs at another sign of the nun. "I have heard about your family, Ayaka-chan. More specifically, about your sister."

"Well, that figures," Ayaka admitted uneasily, looking down. "Neesan was the only one of us who ever could become popular."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, please," Sister Kiara said, with that voice sweet and smooth as honey, reaching over to grab Ayaka's hand. The girl shrieked and tried to pull back, until she saw the nun analyzing her Command Seals, grazing them with the tips of her fingers, seemingly fascinated by them. "Oh my, yes indeed, quite an exquisite design. Mmmmm... Your Magic Circuits feel somewhat underdeveloped, but there is potential in you..."

Ayaka blinked. "Do... Do you really think so?"

"Mm-hmmm. Blessings be upon you," she said, placing a tender kiss on her hand, and finally letting go of it. She smiled at Saber, who didn't smile back. "And a lovely Servant as well. That stern expression isn't very typical of a spirited Rider, your face is too honest for an Assassin or Caster, and you obviously are much too collected for a Berserker or Avenger. What an honor, to be visited by one of the Knights!"

"Saber, for the record," the blonde bluntly said. "We are here only to meet the technicalities required of us. How many forms do we need to file?"

"Oh, yes, that," Sister Kiara said, sounding somewhat disappointed at her reaction, and then pulling a large stack of documents from under the desk, setting them before them. "Fill each of these by Wednesday, send three copies of each, and make sure to include nude photos of each, full body, from the front and the back."

_"N-NUDE WHAT OF WHOM NOW?!"_ Ayaka gasped.

Sister Kiara sighed, giving her a patient but unamused look. "You do know what the Grail War's ultimate objective is, don't you, my lamb?"

"Y-Y-Yes, well, I do, but n-not that I was planning to take this, this thing all the way, I just-!"

"Oh, don't you?" the nun said, getting up from the desk and, once again, sliding silently to stand by Ayaka, giggling softly and giving her cheek a tiny pinch. "Another virginal pure soul, is that any wonder? After all, the very nature of these Wars implies almost none of the players has any previous experience. Why, I was just a child myself during the last War!" she shared, with a hand on her chest and batting her long eyelashes. "It must be difficult for you, my dear. At any time you feel in need of guidance, please consult with me," she saintly offered, sliding a small colorful pamphlet down Ayaka's breast pocket. "I'll be available, always."

"Uhhhh, thank you," she swallowed while Saber only stared on. "But... Why is the Church supporting this at all? Isn't it somewhat... scandalous for your organization?"

"Well, technically speaking, the Church as such acknowledges no official approval or even awareness of Heaven's Feel's existence," the older woman offered, closing her eyes. "But true faith, the kind of faith that takes your spirit in a true initiation, involves steps that the average churchgoer may never even be aware of. The hidden meanings, the superior truths, they are all things that can be given only to those who have met every step up the ladder. You have no idea," she beamed in joy, cupping Ayaka's face in her hands while Saber hummed to herself, "how fortunate you are, over being blessed by God with the means to embark into this path. One of great hardships but also much greater rewards."

"Oh, thank you," Ayaka blinked a few times, disturbed, as Kiara's hands pulled from her face. "But, I don't ask for much from life, really! I'm serious, as long as I can live in peace and quiet, that's all and I'll be satisfied. I don't need a great enlightenment, or fabulous rewards, so I'm not sure I'm the kind of person who should be involved with this..."

"I see," Kiara nodded at her. "You aren't much like your famous sister, then."

"No. No, I'm not."

"Or are you?" Kiara challenged her, soft but firm. "God wouldn't have put you on this path if He thought you couldn't take it."

Ayaka made a face. "My apologies. But we obviously have different views on God and what God is like."

"Ah, that is good," Kiara actually approved. "That will make our trip of mutual discovery a lot more interesting, and enriching." Before Ayaka could protest that she wasn't going to take any kind of trip, thank you very much, Kiara looked at Saber. "How about you, proud Knight? What are your thoughts on the paths our Lord prepares for us?"

"I think that one should not wonder what the path is there for, but moving ahead on it once one is on it," Saber reasoned. "Dwelling on the former is pointless."

"And yet, as someone who came back from oblivion, that is exactly what you intend to do," Kiara lectured her lovingly. "The mere act of coming back to life implies a desire to undo the walked path, to correct on mistakes that were made far too long ago, and in turn, that demands for you to question your original motives and reasons." She sat back behind the desk, folding her hands together. "But..." she glanced back at the clock on her wall, "... we'll continue this discussion later. It is getting late, and the outdoors are dangerous for inexperienced Masters past dusk. I'd hate it if anything happened to you before you could find your true calls during this ritual of rebirth. And before you filed all your forms, of course. Remember. Three copies!"

Saber nodded sparsely, getting up and gathering the stack of papers in her hands. "Do we need any sort of official seal as well?"

"Ara ara, thanks for reminding me...!" she looked into one of her drawers. "Take this one, I have spares. Remember to slam it on every dotted line, without hiding your signatures, clearly enough so it's visible but not so hard that it shows up through the other side of the sheets..."

"Why does it look like a small vagina?" Ayaka frowned, looking closely at it.

"... by this point, do you really have to ask, my dear?"

* * *

The _Copenhagen_ might not be where the Nameless Hero remembered it, but there was no mistaking the people working there.

Perched atop a building, Archer watched the boy leaving the business late that night, waving his goodbyes at the rest of the staff before jogging down the street, towards the bus stop that would take it home.

Archer moved along to follow, as per the Master's wishes, while examining the young man's face, looking for any telling signs of corruption. If he really was touched by the Grail's essence, then it was reasonable to assume he was tainted by Avenger's evil, or didn't that happen in this timeline?

He wished he could ask Kiritsugu on these subjects, but that was out of the question. Give the old man any suspicions, and he'd quickly figure everything out. That wasn't a risk Archer really could allow himself; if Shirou was contaminated by the Grail, then he'd have to die, even if it made his family unhappy.

The fact it would make _**Archer**_ happy was just a side bonus, of course. Maybe he'd buy them a few puppies after the fact to compensate them. Puppies made everything better after all.

Whatever the case, Archer stressed to himself while Shirou turned a corner, he wouldn't and couldn't allow anyone else to kill him until he had figured this whole mess out, of course. Not because of any trivial matters of personal pride... well, maybe just a bit. But mostly, he trusted any of the other usual players even less than he trusted Shirou. Fine, fair enough, he would trust Rin and Sakura, whenever he had the time to look for them instead of playing babysitter for this moron. But, were Lancer to show his stupid face right now, for instance,then Archer would have to swoop in and do his best to save Shirou's sorry, no doubt contaminated ass, for he was sure that, if he didn't, everything would take a turn for the even worse.  
That was a depressing set of thoughts to be having for one night in the town, but Archer being Archer, he was well used to that.

The bus stop was pretty close by now, and all Shirou had to do was clear past the cemetary, which, now that Archer thought about it, seemed to be the same cemetery where he, from Shirou's perspective, had once seen Artoria fight Heracles, so long ago. Ah, now that brought back memories! By now, having ran out of tall buildings to run along, the Servant had fallen back into his astral form, and so he could stick fairly close to Shirou, so close to his scrawny neck that it almost was a pity not to just stab up with an arm and put an end to it all right there and now.

_The things I do for you, old man._

Then Archer noticed his mark, that was, his protege, tensing up and coming to a sudden halt, as something seemed to have caught his attention. Then it hit Archer too, and he cursed himself over being that distracted. Now he could feel the presences of two Servants, and one of them was awfully familiar, even. But no, of course, that couldn't be it. No way. If Shirou hadn't summoned her yet, then-

"Tohsaka?" Archer heard Shirou mutter, squinting into the darkness of the cemetery, and then rushing to the tall fences separating it from the boulevard. Shirou looked into every direction, making sure he wasn't being watched, and then whispered and gestured with a hand at his feet, leaping over the fences in a single bound, startling Archer. _The hell?! Since when is he that competent?!_

Okay, the old man and Irisviel-san better had taught him that in the extra time they had to have been with him, because otherwise, Archer really didn't like the implications of any of this. And yet, as he stuck close to examine his expression, Archer could see nothing but genuine concern, that old dumb, selfless, suicidal willingness to throw his life away for nothing. This wasn't the look Sakura had while possessed by The Shadow, or even a look of cruelty like that of Kirei, or like any of the other petty, murderous men The Hero had fought during his life. Of course, even the worst evils can be committed in the name of the highest justice, but Archer had no further time to dwell into this as they stopped by a tall slope, overlooking a lower section of the burial grounds.

Shirou, both of him, gasped to themselves, looking down at Tohsaka Rin, with a shorter woman in red and black by her side, the cape of a General or Commander hanging behind her. She grinned evilly at the two figures facing the duo, while holding a long katana in a hand, gesturing defiantly with the other and occasionally flipping the bird. Her military hat threw shadows over her face, yet the white grin and the red eyes still were clearly visible under the moonlight.

This was secondary for the Nameless Hero, however, in comparison to seeing Saber herself, in her familiar serene glory, standing opposite them, before a trembling, humble looking girl of glasses, dark brown hair, and large blue eyes with an air of fearful innocence about them. Archer couldn't remember well, but maybe she'd met her once in twice, back at school? What was she doing there? Was she... **_Saber's Master, seriously?_**

This fucking timeline, for real.

"Before we start, Master of Archer," Saber said, with the same strong and proud voice she had ever had, and- _**wait, Archer?!**_ "I need to know, what have you done with the guardsmen of this place? I refuse to have them pay the price of our battle, should they arrive, alarmed by the commotion we will be causing."

Rin smiled. "Don't worry about them. I disposed of them hours ago, with the most powerful force known by man!"

The girl with glasses gulped. "Ah! You mean...!"

"That's right!" Rin said. "Money! I bribed them all to take the night off!"

... well. Rin also seemed to be basically the same, at the very least.

"We can fight to the end, no matter what!" Rin said, while Saber and Female Archer took their respective fighting stances, seizing each other. "This time, we won't be interrupted! Archer!" she swept ahead with an arm. "The floor's yours!"

"'Bout time, too!" the black haired woman broke into boisterous laughter, moving ahead to start a dash just as Saber did the same... and then, in a bait-and-switch, swiftly pulling out a massive rifle and shooting at the charging blonde, directly between the eyes.

"NO!" Shirou shouted then, jumping out and starting to slide down the slope, reaching ahead with an arm. _**"Tohsaka, what do you think you're doing?!"**_

_Oh, great, of course he'd do this-!_ the Nameless Hero thought, even as Saber ducked under the first hail of bullets as expected, never stopping charging ahead. Rin heard the shout and whipped her head upwards, eyes growing wider in recognition.

"Emiya-kun...?!"

The female Archer laughed again, far from being discouraged by her first failure to connect, and threw herself ahead with savage enthusiasm and a flurry of sword motions, maniacally striking at Saber while the much more collected blonde moved her Invisible Air to break through this onslaught...

Heroic Spirit EMIYA, right before propelling his still unseen form to follow the brainless kid, could see the girl with Saber simply have enough at last, produce a long, high pitched shriek of desperation, and turn around sharply on her heels, running away for dear life.

It was funny, in a way. Before tonight, he'd never really thought about it, but weren't cowards, perhaps, the only actually smart people around?

* * *

**To be Continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Fate/Stay Night_ , _Carnival Phantasm_ , _Fate EXTRA_ , _Fate Extella_ , _Fate Hollow Ataraxia_ , _Fate Grand Order_ , _Fate Zero_ , _Fate Kaleid Prisma Illya_ , _Fate Apocrypha_ , _Fate Prototype_ , _Fate: Today's Menu for the Emiya Family_ , _Fate Requiem_ , _Fate Strange/Fake_ , _Fate School Life_ , _Fate Tiger Colosseum_ , _Fate Unlimited Codes_ , _Fate Capsule Servant_ , _Fate: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files_ and _Fate Type/Redline_ are the creations and intellectual properties of Type-Moon and Nasu Kinoko.

All other franchises and characters mentioned within this story are the intellectual properties of their respective copyright and trademark holders.

* * *

**Fate: Carnal Phantasm.**

* * *

**Act Two.**

* * *

"What the hell are you doing here, Emiya, get the hell away, do you want to get freaking killed?!" Rin shouted, grabbing Shirou by the lapels of his jackets and shaking him as her Archer and Saber kept on fighting brutally in the background, the former keeping the later at bay with shots of her rifle every so often to buy some added room for herself.

_Well,_ the astral form of Kiritsugu's Archer thought, hanging near enough as to get a good view but also far enough Rin couldn't detect him. _This isn't so bad after all..._

"Master!" the female Archer shouted then, pushing Saber back with a well applied thrust of her sword when the blode got too close with a Mana Burst. "Look out! I can sense another Servant close!"

"What, for real?!" Tohsaka said, letting go of Shirou and looking wildly in all directions, pulling several gems out of the long sleeves of her overcoat. "But I can't seen anyone, that means- Shit, a male! Get down!" she grabbed Shirou by the head and shoved him down to his knees, aiming the gemstones in every direction successively. "Which way, Archer?!"

"S-Since when are you so potty mouthed?!" Shirou demanded to know, trying to get back up only for Rin to apply more pressure on him with magically enhanced strength. "A male?! Who are you talking about?!"

"Let me see, this cretin's making it kinda hard!" her Archer grunted, tossing the rifle on Saber's face to stun her briefly, and then pulling a flintlock out and shooting at her, forcing the blonde to block at breathtaking speed with her unseen blade. "He's moving in circles around you! But he's closer to that ginger...!"

Rin blinked, looking down at Emiya. "What?! Of course! That's why you're here, it's your Servant!"

"My Servant, what do you mean with that?!" Shirou grunted, managing to shake himself off her grasp, and backing away from her on his butt. "I can't believe it, are you a magus, Tohsaka?!"

"If he knows you're a magus, then he's a magus too!" her Archer said feistily, ducking under Saber's sword slash.

"Concentrate on our duel already!" Saber demanded, leaping over her retaliating leg sweep.

"Yes, you concentrate on that!" Rin agreed, pointing a hand down at Shirou, with the classic finger gun motion. "She's right too! The Magus Killer's son, naturally, I should've known...!"

Shirou blinked. "The magus what?"

"Oh, you know perfectly well!" Rin snapped angrily. "All this time, I was willing to cut you some slack because I thought your old man was retired, but turns out you were just biding our time all these years!"

"A-Are you drunk?!" Shirou winced as he saw this beautiful blonde grab this other girl by the cape with a hand and slam her against a gravestone. There was a valuable lesson to be learned there for his future superhero career, _NO CAPES!_ "What do you gain from insulting Dad when your friend's outright killing that other girl and you cheer her up!" he pointed at where Female Archer was shooting Saber point blank several times in the chest, only her magically forged armor saving her from a certain death.

"Th-That's different and you know that too!" Rin said, shaking the finger gun at him. "Tell your Servant to show up right now, or else-!"

_Well, I don't have anything to fear from Rin,_ EMIYA estimated, staying quiet where he was. _She'll never hurt him, she's too soft hearted..._

_**BANG!** _

_Sonuva-!_

"T-T-Tohsaka, cut that out!" Shirou let out a strangled scream, the trail of a blazing magical bullet still feeling sizzling warm against the temple it had just grazed. "If I tell you I don't have a Servant, whatever that is, well, other than Sella and Leysritt, I mean it!"

"Servant, show yourself if you don't want to lose your Master!" Rin called out, since it was clear threatening the idiot himself wasn't working. "No tricks! The slightest off move and he's toast!"

EMIYA weighed the options in his mind reluctantly, and only when Rin moved her hand slightly to point directly at Shirou's Adam's Apple, he took a quick decision and materialized where he stood, hands raised. "Okay, okay, you got me!" he admitted. "Hold your fire, will you? There's a perfectly logical explanation for all of this! ...I think."

Female Archer and Saber came to a mutual halt as they looked at him in shared shock, their respective swords stopping at just inches of slicing each other's neck off.

"I knew it!" the former hissed.

"A destroyer!" Saber said.

"I'm not here to destroy anything or anyone!" EMIYA growled, upset at this whole nonsense. Shirou was acting like the most rational person around him right now, and that annoyed so greatly I can't even begin to describe it. "If I wanted to kill any of you, I'd have sniped you from afar, since I'm an Archer...!"

Saber and Female Archer seemed to have just found a common enemy then, as they stopped facing each other and stood side by side, regarding EMIYA menacingly. "Oh?" the black haired woman sneered then. "And then, what did you come to do here?"

"Well, I-" he said, slowly moving his hands a bit lower, and then, in a desperate fast moving gamble, pulling Kanshou and Bakuya out, throwing the blades around in a circular motion at the female Servants. Taking Rin by surprise, he shoved her aside just as the other two Heroic Spirits dodged the flying swords. He roughly grabbed the perplexed Shirou, tucked him under a strong arm, and running away with him, taking sage advice from the nerdy girl.

"Hey, no, what the hell, you won't-!" Female Archer said, taking aim at his back, only to be forced to duck again a moment after, as Bakuya came back in a boomerang motion, barely missing her head and hat. EMIYA smiled roguishly and held his free arm up, catching both blades by the handle at once as they flew back to his hand, and leaping cleanly over the tall metal fence with Shirou in tow, reaching the street.

"After him!" Saber roared, boosting herself up, and she and the petite Archer bolted past the cemetery following his trail, Rin hanging behind and cursing to herself. They caught a glimpse of him, a red and blue streak carrying a disoriented young man into the night, but then a nearby police car startled them, and Rin yelped, grabbing her Archer by a wrist and rushing aside with her.

"Hey, what are you doing, this is just a car of enforcers!" Archer protested as her Master dragged her away into the shadows, Saber making a dash for the opposite direction while swearing not getting arrested at the end of another crusade. "I can take them easy, come on, this is so anticlimactic...!"

_**"Preservation of the Mystery! Shut up and just come along!"** _

Saber ran, just like Brave Sir Robin had once taught her, and as she made it back to Ayaka's house, she knew exactly where to go, and where to look.

So she headed directly for Ayaka's bedroom, tugged on the top of the large bundle of blankets on the bed, and blandly told the sweaty face with glasses looking up at her, "We really need to do something about this unwillingness of yours."

"Did... Did you kill them this time?"

* * *

"I can't believe it," Kiritsugu said, pacing back and across his bedroom while Shirou and Archer sat on the edge of his bed, like two scolded children. "You had one job. One job! All I was asking from you is to keep Shirou safe, and it took you one night...!"

"Well, he isn't hurt, is he?" her wife asked from where she stood by the closed door, arms folded. "You should have let me handle the instructions, like last time..."

"Iri-chan, I swear I made the instructions as clear as possible!" Kiritsugu complained. "I know I'm not the best with Servants, but I can give instructions and be understood as long as the soldier is competent enough, remember Maiya?"

"... yes. Of course I remember Maiya," she said, in an even blander tone now, and he instantly knew he had screwed up again.

Archer took this moment of vulnerability to speak, still refusing to meet his Master's gaze. "It was his fault..."

"How could it be my fault if I didn't have any idea what was going on?!" Shirou argued, slapping his knee in outrage at this stranger who dared saying this in his own house. "No, scratch that, I _**still**_ don't know what's going on, Grail War?! And why did Tohsaka call you a 'Magus Killer', dad?! I know she never quite got over her parents, but is she blaming you about them, or what?!"

Kiritsugu sighed very wearily. "Keep it low, will you? Illya might overhear. Shirou, the Holy Grail War is a competition, usually set every sixty years, between Magi qualified for the title of Masters and their Servants, Heroic Spirits given flesh to fight for their sake. The main classes of Servant are Saber, Rider, Berserker, Caster, Assassin, Lancer and This Idiot," he said, pointing at Archer.

Archer frowned. "This wouldn't have happened if only this much smarter guy hadn't strayed off his path to go look into a cemetery in the middle of the night!" he said, pointing a thumb at his younger self. "It's only thanks to me that he's even breathing after that! This isn't a charge to be protected, this is a walking Darwin Award!"

"I thought I heard Tohsaka's voice, and I like to think Tohsaka is still my friend, of sorts, why shouldn't I have been worried about her...?" Shirou sulked, then grew more energetic, having just realized a point. "And I was right too!" he poked at Archer's arm with a thumb. "She'd have been killed if I hadn't saved her!"

"Poke me again like that and I'll implant this arm on you!" Archer threatened. "Rectally!"

"Boys, boys, please!" Irisviel calmly said while Kiritsugu seethed. "From your story, it sounds like it couldn't be helped by any of you. Shirou-kun can't be stopped from trying to help everyone he sees, and Archer-san couldn't think out of the box in time under pressure..."

Archer's eyebrow twitched. "It's strange how you can sound so rational and also so condemning at the same time, Madam..."

Irisviel sighed, taking two fingers to her forehead. "This isn't taking us anywhere. Kiri-kun, don't you think we should just tell him already?"

"For the last time, Iri-chan, no..." her husband shook his head.

"Telling me about what?" Shirou asked.

"Dear," Iri said very gently, while Kiri just muttered to himself, "have you ever wondered why you keep on helping girls more often than boys?"

"Because girls are much more likely to get in trouble?"

Iri's smile froze, and a second later she was punching him down in the head, shouting _**"THAT'S SEXIST!"**_ while Archer slapped him on the back of the head.

Shirou trembled, holding the huge pulsing bump on his head while Irisviel went back to her saintly smile. "Think about it, my dear. Aren't you much more likely to hear a girl's voice from afar than a man's? Haven't you always been that way?"

"W-Well, yes, but..."

"Haven't you ever wondered," she sweetly teased, "why would that be...?"

Shirou doubted, eyes briefly drifting to his mother's cleavage for a moment as she leaned towards him to wait for his answer, before he blushed and looked away. "No! No, I haven't ever! I never even realized that, really!" he lied.

"You are the Holy Grail, your mission is to impregnate a set of Masters and Servants so they can bear the Messiahs of the New Age as foretold by three demented families hundreds of years ago, and Archer is supposed to be protecting you so you aren't either slain or the father to an Antichrist, do you understand?!" Kiritsugu blurted out then, pushed past his limits, then telling Iri, "There, I told him, happy now?!"

Iri pouted as Shirou became a salt statue and Archer sighed. "There's a difference between explaining things and explaining things all at once! Actually, that was more of an infodump that gives him more questions than those it explains!"

"Okay," Kiritsugu exhaled. "You're right. Let me elaborate, then... Shirou," he told his son.

"Wha," Shirou said, staring into nothingness.

"There are two kinds of Masters in these Wars. Males usually summon male Servants and their mission is killing the Grail vessel. Females usually summon female Servants and are supposed to beget children with the Grail instead. I know, I know, but it is a system conceived more than two centuries ago. Of course it's not going to be progressive!"

"... even the year is all wrong..." Archer was grouching, looking at the calendar in the wall.

"Your father," Iri gently said, "summoned a Servant in the last War, thinking the risks of bringing a 'Messiah' into this world were too big for humanity, and I agreed to act as a decoy Master for them. The plan was, we would make the Grail believe our Servant and me were going to breed with him, then your father would reveal himself as the true Master and stop him once we were close enough."

"Wait... That was your plan, seriously?!" Archer gasped, stopping looking at the calendar. "It's... insane! For that to work, it'd have had to be a man who looked like enough of a woman to-"

"I think it was an actually fairly decent _trap_ , myself," Kiritsugu shrugged, looking aside. "Technically it worked, too! He never knew what hit him until Rider was on top of him!"

Archer grimaced. "Death by that kind of surprise... That is an awful way to go!"

"It'd have worked-worked, not just technically, if only two other meddlesome Masters and their Servants hadn't gotten in the way," the Emiya father lectured as even more question marks appeared above Shirou's head. "Thanks to them, and thanks to the Grail being corrupted in the Third War-"

"Ah-hah!" Archer stood abruptly, pointing a finger at Kiritsugu. "I knew it! This whole time, you knew the Grail was corrupted, and yet you've brought this man, holding its tainted esence, right here with your family, including your young daughter! Your heart is too soft, Master! This beast must be slain right here and now..."

"WAIT, WHAT?!" Shirou screamed. "Why are you saying that, you're making me sound like some kind of deviant!"

"Archer, lower the volume, remember...?" Irisviel requested patiently. "We wouldn't have raised Shirou-kun as our son, and taught him how to defend himself, if we'd believed he'd ever become a menace. The former host of the Grail wasn't an evil man, really. This corruption, really... how should I put it... through him, through his humanizing influence on the being that was put in the Grail by my ancestors... let's just say it was less of a 'Destroy the world' corruption anymore and more of a 'Fuck all women' corruption. Which is not so out of line with how young men already think anyway!" she beamed.

Kiritsugu gave her a very light bop on the back of her head then. "That's sexist!" he said, turning her own words back on her.

Shirou blinked. "So you're saying that Tohsaka and Sajyou have just summoned heroic women to have children with me?"

"Sajyou, that's her name?" Archer said. Wow, it was true, this guy really paid more attention to women than he ever did!

Kiritsugu nodded. "Basically, yes."

"That's strange," Shirou said uneasily. "I thought Tohsaka didn't like me very much."

"She couldn't know you're the Grail yet," his father said. "If the Masters knew, we'd have every last one of them already knocking on our door. By blowing it off the hinges."

"Ah, I see," Shirou nodded, taking it all remarkably well. "But there's a problem. I'm dating Ayako."

"I know."

"And I don't want to cheat on Ayako."

"That's great. That's why we want to protect you, too," Kiritsugu said kindly. "We just want you and Illya to live normal lives, and I swear we will find a way to get you out of this so you can live it, no matter what." He looked at Archer again. "For that, it'd be a great help, certainly, if you could explain how you knew the Grail was corrupted, in the first place!"

"... I have partial amnesia," Archer repeated his earlier explanation.

"Maybe he needs a few good blows to the head?" Shirou offered. "That always works in television."

_"Are you sure he wasn't corrupted that other way too?!"_

* * *

"I don't want to go to school...!" Ayaka said, stubbornly holding the pillow against her head.

"You cannot simply spend the rest of the War locked up here, you need to face reality!" Saber said, finally having enough and grabbing her by the legs to pull her out of the bed. "I know it's difficult, I know you still remember Manaka, but simply hiding is no option!"

"Tohsaka-san will kill me as soon as she sees me!"

"No, she won't," Saber said. "Not in the open, at broad daylight. She didn't do it yesterday, and she won't do it today. Seeing how quickly she fled your law enforcement made me realize how much she values the secrecy of magic."

"Then she'll just put poison in my drink or something, I'm sure!" Ayaka said, now trying to hide in the closet, only for Saber to keep its door open stubbornly. "Why must you keep doing this to me? Besides, I have to stay home filling all those damn forms anyway!"

"You'll be safer outside, where everyone can see you, than here," Saber reasoned. "After all, if that woman knows your name, she can find this residence easily, and- I knew it," she tensed, sipping around and summoning her sword back to her hand. "That's Archer's presence, by the door!"

"The window!" Ayaka shrieked, making a line for it, only for Saber to grab her by the pajama pants, so Ayaka stumbled down on her face, striped panties showing and pulled pants around her ankles. "Oooff! No, seriously, you hate me for some reason, don't you, Saber?!"

"Sajyou-san, it's me, Tohsaka...!" Rin's voice was shouting from below. "I don't mean you any harm, I only want to talk...! If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't be announcing me like this, so all neighbors can hear...!"

"Damn it. She is got a point," Saber said to herself.

Ayaka whined, pulling her pants back on. "Okay, sheesh, I know! If I don't go, she'll just shoot the door down anyway, won't she?! I guess I can't just legally change my name, get plastic surgery, and move to Alaska in the time it takes them to catch up with me, after all... Might as well might this quick..."

"I will be your shield the whole time," Saber promised solemnly. "Should they try any trickery, I will put them to the blade, and since we are here, you can easily bury them in your basement, nobody the wiser."

"I don't have a basement, and she just made sure all neighbors would know she's here," Ayaka reminded her, moving for the bedroom's door.

"Okay, but that _**does**_ buy enough time so you can legally change your name, get plastic surgery and move to Alaska."

"Alright, fine, that does sound like a plan to me. Glad I thought of it."

* * *

"I normally prefer inconditional surrender followed by execution to negotiations," Tohsaka's Archer huffed, sitting at Ayaka's table with the three other women, "but fine, this sometimes is part of warfare as well. You only get one pardon, though!" she warned. "It's all my own brother got...!"

"Siblings, huh?" Saber asked, nodding her way. "They're the same everywhere."

Rin frowned. "Hey, don't generalize!" Then she looked sternly at the meekly Ayaka. "Oh, stop looking at me like that! I told you, I'm not going to kill you!"

"Yet," Archer added, reaching into the bag of chips she'd stolen from Ayaka's kitchen and taking another mouthful for herself as Saber glared.

"Right, this isn't the time for it," Rin agreed, nodding at Ayaka. She and Archer already were in their school uniforms, Ayaka thought, so that was good, odds were they really weren't planning on staining themselves with her blood after all. That probably would be difficult to explain to Fujimura-sensei. "This is bad, I didn't think we'd run into an Agent of Thanatos so soon," she mused, gnawing on her thumb pensively. "And it's Emiya's, so he can have easy access to our houses. Since it's an Archer, he can just shoot us from a distance, we'll be sitting ducks as long as he's alive. So we have to work together, to bring him down!"

"An alliance? I have sour experiences with such allegiances of convenience from previous campaigns," Saber said.

"Come on, live a little!" Archer grinned insolently, crossing the legs and tapping her foot in that delinquent way of hers. "What kind of Heroic Spirit are you, if you can't play the game of treaties and betrayals?"

"Okay, if you really mean it, I'm all for it, what other choice do I have?" Ayaka capitulated, throwing her hands up. "I'm just shocked you don't trust your solo odds against that man, when you had no problem fighting us twice. I know it's obvious I'm a cowardly, incompetent goof, but-"

"It's not really about that, Saber is evidently a formidable opponent regardless," Rin noted with a nod at Saber, who thanked the praise with a small bow of her head. "But the way this damned system is set, male Servants have several advantages over ours. The physical body is a handicap, not only because it takes the capacity to take an astral form away, but because it makes the Servant more vulnerable to physical damage. You could grab a gun and shoot at that Archer's head without killing him, but it'd instantly kill Saber, for instance. That's a down point of being actual flesh and blood."

Ayaka grimaced. "I see. That sucks."

Rin nodded. "All through history, the odds have been stacked against women by patriarchal societies. We had to work twice as hard as men to become fighters and researchers of renown, for instance. The families behind the creation of the system were no different, in that regard, from that mindset of their contemporaries. For them, we were supposed to be baby making machines for the most part, and men were the 'true' warriors, the killers, not the lovers..."

Saber and Archer shared a long sigh, reminiscing on prior experiences from lifetimes ago.

"See?" Rin told Ayaka sympathetically. "They know. Even today, we have to fight harder, and with that in mind, it's better if we stand together against men, until we've disposed of all the dopes. Then we can settle things among ourselves, with honor and fairness!"

Saber nodded, now apparently more pleased with her pitch. "That does make sense indeed, but... even so..."

"I just want to know," Ayaka said, "why are you going with this AT ALL, Tohsaka-san? I mean, you obviously are a liberated, educated woman! You can have any man you want, you are beloved, popular and smart... then why are you doing this, just for the sake of getting a baby from a man you don't even know?"

Rin sighed. "I know... right? I'm not crazy about that part of the plan either. I wouldn't have minded that much if these hadn't shown up," she said, looking at her Command Seals, "but they did, without asking, just like I didn't ask to be born a woman. In life, you have to do what you are given by nature and destiny, that is what proves your worth as a human being. Besides, I'm still a magus, and I have my magus pride. I'd be letting the Tohsaka name down, not only my father's, but that of my every relative ever, if I were to flee this responsibility. For better or worse."

Ayaka gulped. "So that's it, huh..." She looked at Archer. "And... you?"

"HA HA HA HA HA!" the Archer laughed evilly. "I just want a heir to perpetuate my legacy! A child to help me conquer the whole land, to crush it under our boots, to claim our rightful heritage back by force!" She thrusted a fist up, almost making it catch on fire. "In life, I never could deliver my own house to that everlasting greatness! So I will do it now! Rin will be, of course, should she remain loyal, my faithful retainer," she magnanimously allowed, waving a hand at her Master without even looking at her.

Rin shook her head. "And I'm oh so ever thankful because of it," she said, playing along with airs of resignation. She frowned at the disturbed Saber and Ayaka. "What? She can't possibly be much worse than the politicians we already have!"

* * *

"Ayako, can we talk?" Rin asked, approaching Mitsuzuri as the bell finished ringing, and every other student poured out after Taiga.

The brown haired girl blinked at her, pausing in the middle of grabbing the cleaning utensils. "Ah, sure thing, are you going to help me again? Thank you very much..."

"Think nothing of it," Rin said, taking the mop and waiting as Ayako started dusting the blackboard and erasers off. "I have to be honest, I also wanted to talk on you, on the subject of Emiya-kun."

"What about him?"

"Well... You started dating recently, didn't you?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

Rin was clearly uncomfortable, which was strange in someone as confident as her. "No, it's nothing, I just wanted to ask... You're much closer to him than anyone else in our class, so, haven't noticed anything unusual about him lately?"

Ayako blinked, looking back at her. "What did he do?"

"He hasn't done anything...!" Rin reassured her, forcing a smile. Ayako made a small frown and put the erasers down on the teacher's desk, then began sweeping as Rin elaborated. "It's just, haven't you seen him, huh, keeping strange companies recently?"

Ayako sighed. "He's still friends with Shinji for some reason I'll never fathom, if that's what you mean, but what of it? Shinji's harmless."

"No, no, I mean... haven't you seen him with anyone who looks... yankee?"

"Yankee?" Ayako looked at her. "What's with that, Rin, since when do you have anything against foreigners? Look I get why you wouldn't like Luviagelita-san, but..."

"I don't have anything against foreigners, my granny was a foreigner!" Rin laughed stiffly. "It's just that this particular guy I might have seen Emiya-kun with, he kind of looked sort of dangerous, so I was worried for him, that's all, honest...!"

"Well, the same could be said about you," Ayako said, dumping the swept dust into the basket as small pointed arrows dropped from above on Rin's head. "I didn't want to intrude, but now that you mention that, you've been seen with this delinquent looking girl of late, and no one even can agree which classroom is she from."

"Ah! Ah, that! She, she just arrived from... Honnouji!"

Ayako winced. "The Black School!" she said, since Mahora's students usually refused to say that name.

Rin nodded. "Yes, yes, don't take that against her, she's actually a good person... when you get to know her... Anyway, it might be nothing, I didn't get a good look at that guy since it was late and he was away, but..."

"Thanks for worrying," Ayako sighed as Rin began mopping. "I'll ask Shirou later, but I don't think it's anything serious. It goes with the job when you have that kind of part-time job, I suppose."

She paused, then added, "What's with Sakura? She's been a bit spacey at practices of late. Is she worrying over that stuff too?"

"No, no, she's just helping me with a project, that's all. One of those patents Dad left needs some work... nothing else."

"Hrrrm."

Mitsuzuri Ayako had known both Tohsaka sisters long enough as to be aware they were rather secretive, no matter how open Rin appeared to most. She had long since made her peace with that, since it wasn't her problem after all. She had seen the light in Sakura's eyes whenever she looked at Shirou enough times to figure her feelings out, but after trying to get her to confess for three straight years, she couldn't feel very guilty about moving in herself. It wouldn't be fair even to Shirou-kun, since she was sure he deserved better than just being pined after from afar.

"Sakura..." she finally said, regardless.

"Yes, what about her?" Rin asked as she moped, as she'd been expecting for this. She, too, had known Ayako enough as to figure her out this well.

"She's not this way just when she's around me, is she?"

"No... No, why would she be? She's happy about you and Emiya-kun, of course. What, you mean that old thing? Hah! Please, Ayako, Sakura's moved on. She was just a kid back then..."

"I know, I... I just wanted to be sure, I suppose," the more average looking girl lowered her gaze. "Hey, do you want to hit the Chao Bao Zi after-"

"Sorry, Ayako, but I've really got to work on those patents over the next few weeks."

"Right. I forgot."

Her Archer sat outside, out of sight, under the classroom's window, plopped down on the grass, folded arms resting between the back of her head and the wall. Master was truly awful gathering battle data, wasn't she? She'd have to mock her properly afterwards. Ahhh, there was no doubt about it, she was still just a child after all.

Deeply in these idle thoughts, Archer failed to notice the small living shadow hanging high above her, staring down at her under the wrapping of Presence Concealment. Large, round, soulful black eyes gazed upon her, and the Assassin seethed inside, feeling an acute repulsion.

Fine hands reached for the dirks hidden with the blackness of a cloak concealing all but those eyes, and she considered just stabbing on her right here and there before discarding the idea. There were still children around, and she could hear their voices. She could not make a real move until she had figured the innocent and the guilty in this game of sin.

In the meanwhile, she would have to stay around and keep on learning on this place's particularities. This, too, was necessary if she wanted to succeed in the mission she had seized for herself, in the name of her faith...

* * *

Shirou was finishing fixing the air conditioner when he noticed Ayako standing by the classroom's door.

"Aya-chan?" he blinked at her, coming down the small ladder and wiping his hands with a cloth. "What are you doing here? The Hall Monitor will chide us if he sees you here."

Ayako shrugged with a small smile, setting her bag down on a seat. "I just saw Ren-kun napping on a chair two stories below, and how can he talk, when he keeps letting that twin sister of his show up around here all the time? Sorry to disturb, Shirou-kun, but I wanted to talk about something, and I'd rather deal with this up close and personal, not through the phone."

He sighed. "Yeah. Truth be told, I also wanted to tell you a few things. How should I put this... I might be kind of busy over the next few weeks or so."

"Oh, you too."

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind. What is it? Anything I may help you with?"

"N-No... Not exactly," he rasped uneasily, rubbing the back of his neck. He wondered if that Archer creep was around, watching over him again, and that only made him all the more uncomfortable. "Wait a second, please."

He walked to the window, slammed it close, pulled the curtains, and then stomped to the door, also locking it from the inside. He then dusted his hands off. There! If he'd been outside, then he'd stay outside minding his own business! It wasn't like he was a true ghost, he couldn't possibly go through walls...

... or could he? Dangabit.

He had no time to dwell in this, as he'd just heard Ayako gasp. "S-Shirou-kun!" she blushed, even though she still tried to keep her usual playful cool. "S-So bold...!"

"Huh?" he said. "Ah, no! No, it's not what you think! It's just... I don't want Ren to see you here, if he wakes up! That's all!" he made up on the fly, and since that actually was a logical enough explanation- even the window part, Ren could be weird like that- Ayako relaxed somewhat.

"Ahhhh, y-yeah, I see. Anyway, Shirou-kun, Rin just spoke to me, and it appears she and Sakura are worried about you."

"Don't tell me. Actually, I think I should be worried about them too."

"The girl from the Black School, right?" Ayako nodded. "But Rin says she's seen you with a yankee, I don't know what does she have against him, but..."

"Oh, that's a business friend of my father, actually," Shirou said, as he'd promised Kiritsugu in the event he ever was asked about Archer. "What, did she think he was my friend? Far from it, I don't even like the guy!" he laughed it off. Then he grew more serious. "All the same, he IS related to the things that are going to keep me busy. Please don't ask me about it, I... I promise I'll tell you about it once it's done," he sighed. "I wish it could be otherwise, seriously."

Ayako was truly concerned now. He knew Fujimura-sensei was practically part of Shirou's family, and, like everybody else in the school, she knew the kind of actual family Sensei had. "This... This isn't one of 'those things', is it, Shirou-kun?"

"'Those things'?"

"Yeah, you know, if we're going to have a relationship then we shouldn't be coy about them!" Ayako challenged. "Look, if Mahora's Yakuza is going to war against Honnouji's again and that's why that girl's there, then just plain tell me and I'll be extra careful, but let's not pretend nothing's happening! There you go, treating me like a little girl again!"

"D-Don't say that, whatever gave you that idea?! Don't you think you've just made a whole theory way too fast?!"

"Are you going to tell me that both things involving outsiders and happening at the same time and pulling you, Sensei's protege, and Rin, Sensei's student, away for reasons neither can explain, aren't related?!"

"W-Well, they are, sort of!" Shirou admitted, since he knew how much she hated having her intelligence insulted, and he also knew he couldn't come up with a real explanation that wouldn't be full of holes everywhere. "But I really can't tell you much because there's much I don't know myself, I'm honest!"

Ayako scowled, reading on his expression as she always did, and she finally pulled back, shoulders drooping. "Alright, I imagine your dad and Sensei wouldn't tell you much. Uhhh... if that's the way things are, then, Illya-chan can come live with us while all of that's going on, you know. We won't mind..."

He gulped. "Thank you. That might be for the best, actually, I'll mention it to Dad."

She made another pause, then told him, "You still want to be my boyfriend, don't you?"

"Of course I do, Aya-chan."

She made an exasperated sound, waving a hand up. "I know, I know, you'll never stop being the way you are, and that's why I love you. I'm not asking you to put your dreams away or anything, I just want you to be fully honest with me. You know you can tell me anything, Shirou-kun." She rested on his chest, wrapping her arms up and around his neck. "No matter what. I'll understand."

"Ahhh..." Shirou said, feeling her warmth against her, the leftovers of shampoo scent on her hair. His senses were, as ever, more acute when around a girl, and rarely he'd ever been this close to one. He never really allowed himself to, before Aya-chan.

He rested his strong hands on her shoulders. "You know I love you too, Aya-chan."

She smiled, and closed her eyes, enjoying contact with him. After a moment of doubt, he placed a small kiss on her scalp, and she giggled. "You can be bolder than that, you know. We're all alone..."

Well, he wasn't that sure about that, actually! Still, what harm there was in a kiss? So he reached down with his hand, gently cupped her chin in his fingers, and tilted her head upwards, to kiss her mouth.

Much to his surprise, Ayako tightened the hold around his neck, pulling him closer and tighter, and the kiss deepened, as he suddenly felt his pants tighten. He tried to pull his hips back so she wouldn't notice, and then his mind boggled as he heard her purr, breaking the kiss, "You smell kinda different today. New cologne?"

"N-No..." he said as, without noticing, his hands wandered down even so slightly, to end up resting on her lower back, right above her buttocks.

"Shirou-kun," she said, puckering her mouth. "Again."

Oh, well, it was just another kiss, wasn't it? It would make no difference for Archer, surely, people kissed all the time after all, and he could take the teasing afterwards, as long as he could kiss Aya-chan now. So he kissed her again, and she kissed back, and before he knew it, the hands had gone even lower, and he was clutching onto the cheeks under the fabric of her skirt.

She moaned into his mouth, and the world seemed to grow red, an immaterial haze wrapping his perceptions. As well as hers. His hands yanked the skirt up, even as hers tugged on his collar. Everyone else had stopped existing, Rin and Ren and Sakura and Illya and Archer and Dad and Mom, as he nervously pressed his fingertips on Ayako's warm, soft flesh.

"I must be going crazy..." she wheezed, eyes half closed as she moved her hands around, popping the two upper buttons of his shirt, feeling the firm muscle underneath. She kissed tenderly on his collarbone, and in turn, he found the skirt's zipper and undid it, the piece of checkered cloth quickly hitting the floor around her ankles and heels. "Shirou-kun..."

"Aya-chan..." he panted, thumbs hooking on the elastic of her panties, and then yanking down. She yelped in surprise and fear, and then fell ahead on him, pushing her crotch, still only half exposed since the fabric hadn't quite gone under the entrance, against his hardness. "Wah! Sorry?!" he said, briefly coming back to his senses, the blood rushing to his face.

Ayako paused, stunned out of her mind... and then, reluctantly, shook her head and hugged him again. "Oh, what the hell..." she mouthed softly, as if dreaming, and then bit down on the collarbone sharply, as if to punish him for some reason. Shirou grunted, and then spun around, moving her until her back hit the teacher's desk. She smiled roguishly at him, and he smiled back, before she wrapped her legs around his torso, pulling him down onto her. "We love each other, after all."

Shirou breathed in and out in feverish puffs, and then yanked the panties the rest of the way off, sending them flying across the classroom, and then ducking to shove his mouth against Ayako's pink, small, wet gateway, flashing back to movies Shinji had once or twice brought along to watch. She screamed his name as some ancient, arcane knowledge flowed into his mind, and instinct only reinforced by the memories of trashy cinema, and his mouth worked down, lapping, nibbling, suckling, occasionally even chewing, making her shriek while she held her legs high.

"Aya-chan," he grunted, his other hand stiffly reaching for his pants' zipper, pulling down on it without questioning it. With two fingers, he pushed enough of his briefs down as to allow the erection spring free, and he massaged and rubbed it along his pointer a thumb a few times, listening to the music of her moans and chuckles, until she cried in release, and he couldn't hold himself back any longer.

This was stupid and they both knew it, as a matter of fact they couldn't think of any other thing as he rose back to his feet, throwing the jacket and shirt back off, and then jacking himself one more time, as she admired his well sculpted bare torso. But those were only their thoughts, and by now their actions were actually answering to forces beyond that of coherent thinking. He drew in closer, lining himself along her slick entrance, and pushed in.

She yelped and threw her head back, even as his right hand cupped her breasts, and he worked himself in as deeply as he could go, holding that pose for a few moments of fullness. It was only when he began pulling back that his fingers worked frantically on the shirt and bra, roughly pulling them and twisting on them until the medium sized youthful breasts were on display, and he leaned reverently towards them, kissing one of the small brown hard tips even as he drove himself back and forth within her.

Something scratched at the glass of the window from the outside. Neither could hear it.

"Shirou..." Ayako drawled out, her mind jumbled all over and through with all manners of strange, scary ideas, feeling herself so hot, so sweaty, approaching the edge of an even bigger crash than that of moments ago. "Shirou, I'm not... Today... Not a day... No... Ah! Ah, what the fuck!" she shouted, clawing at his back and ignoring the rustling of the window's curtains, preceded by a crystalline shattering, that of a small portion of panel being cut and let go. "Fill me whole, _ **SHIROU!"**_

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes! Yes! YES!" he growled, holding her even tighter than ever, then pulling his mouth from the saliva drenched breasts, closing his eyes and stiffening in place. He ejaculated as much as he possibly could, bringing his voice to a choir of meaningless shouts with hers.

Two stories under, a gray haired young man blinked back to mild awareness, looked around, and then sank back to unconsciousness on his chair by the stairs.

Shirou and Ayako panted, shuddering against each other, joined in a tangle of awkwardly placed limbs and distorted expressions on the teacher's desk. She burped, disoriented, and then was about to say something, anything really, when she saw a pair of stern, furious black eyes staring at them from only a couple of steps away, poking out of the confines of an all covering black hood and robes.

"Sin can only beget death, and nothing else," a woman's voice said with righteous anger. An arm rose from her back, a long, muscular extra limb of twitching fingers, as Ayako shrieked in anything but pleasure now, and Shirou gasped and stepped before her defensively, flaccid member flapping around, all but stumbling on his dropped pants. **_"Everything else is a blasphemy, hand thy heads...!"_**

As the arm threw itself towards them, Archer broke through the door, careening towards the woman like a freight train, and slammed on her, smashing her against the opposite wall.

* * *

_**Interlude:  
**_  
William Shakespeare was no man of false modesty, and since any modesty applied to a genius as starling as his had to be false, then he was no man of any modesty whatsoever.

That was sound and logic, and thus Shakespeare saw no reasons whatsoever to dispute it, even if the Master thought otherwise. What could the man know? Someone who had thought, in his hubris, he could summon Oberon, King of the Fae, from his manuscript? Him, a second rate magus, calling forth the sovereign of all magical creatures? The one who had made Caster himself wait to the end of his illustrious career before the mere shade of him would deign visit him, to be conjured upon his golden closure pages? It was to laugh.

The Master wouldn't recognize a narrative opportunity if it came, slapped him across the face with a glove, spat on his nose and called him a son of a whore. Which was why he had to look for a better patron for his arts somewhere, even if Caster would miss this little place, all things considered. The smells coming from above could grow quite foul, but the library was a lovely thing, so very well supplied, and it was a shame he couldn't leave with all those tomes once the time would come.

"And thinking of the Devil..." Caster smiled to himself, as the blond, lightly tanned man marched down the stairs from the workshop, rolling his sleeves back down.

"How is it going?" Atrum Galliasta, prestigious representative of Clock Tower, asked the bearded man in the green suit.

"I'm about to reach my ultimate conclusions, Sire!" the Caster smiled his perfect white smile, with the artificial, flawless mirth of a method actor. With a grand sweep of his arm, he gestured at all the registers the Master had gathered for him, the tall piles of record books, the stacks of books, the columns of official documents salvaged from the fires or pilfered from libraries, all arranged on the desks arranged before Caster, and also the computer with an Internet connection, of course. "It has been a long, exhausting search, but as promised, if someone can locate the protagonist of a story for you, that is me! The Prince of Stratford-upon-Avon! Your very own-"

"Yes, yes, that is very good and all, but where are your results?" the Master said, approaching him and wiping the blood off his hands with a white towel he then threw on Caster's secondary research books, those unrelated to their shared investigation. Caster repressed his urges to kill at this offense and kept on smiling, his chin high. "Since we can't hope to match the other Servants in terms of power, then we need beating them to the Grail himself. If you can't do this after all, then there's no use at all for you."

_"There are no tricks in plain and simple faith,"_ the Bard quoted himself with the greatest dignity, so great as a matter of fact that it went the other way around, "And faith is what you should place on this poor retainer, Master! When did I fail to deliver a masterpiece? Never! I see no reason to start now."

The younger man began opening his mouth to protest, but Caster silenced him with a wag of his finger. "Pay attention. The preparations for writing any good play start with determining the characters and their roles, and the lead is, naturally, the spine of your work. God, I feel degraded, having to explain this."

Atrum frowned as Caster gathered several sets of files and documents he had selected from many different supplies, setting them before him. "This work is a sequel, and that makes it both easier and more difficult," Caster grinned. "It is easier, because once the pattern has been set, laying the plot is simple, it writes itself! Give the audience more of what they want to see, ho ho! Yet it's also more difficult, because you simply start repeating yourself, and the audience really don't want a retread, they want a new thing under the guise of a retread. Or the other thing around, it depends! Fickle things, these audiences. You need to figure them out before you do anything, even the characters!"

"But you just said- Oh, forget it!" the Master frowned at his obviously insane Servant. Was this what he was investing so many human resources into? "Are you actually anywhere with this, or not?"

_"Travelers never did lie, though fools at home condemn them,"_ Caster huffed, hand posed on his own chest. "Don't question my flights of fancy before they have even begun. You know what do the first few installments do for a sequel? They lay the groundwork and establish the lore. If you are a good author, you will work with the functional parts and ignore the rest. Pan the gold from the soil. Well, I have struck the motherlode once more, I believe."

He held an old medical file and chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "What manner of illness did plague our Prince of Denmark? What disease of the spirit shaped his poor soul?"

"I don't understand."

"Precisely!" Shakespeare huffed, flipping the file open and languidly thumbing through it. "A sequel works best when your characters are directly linked to those who came before. Nobody likes a divorced installment, that makes it clear you are just coasting on name recognition. However, by following the threads from previous installments, and using logic, you can see where your story begs to be taken by you. How many Masters did survive the last Grail War? I know you know that one! All Masters were recorded, and you have the connections..."

"Professor Velvet, one Kotomine Kirei, and Magus Killer Kiritsugu," Atrum fumed. "Are you insinuating any of them took the essence of the Grail into themselves? That does make some sense, I suppose, but-"

"No, no, no," Caster sighed with great disappointment, two fingers on his shaking forehead. "So close, yet so far! This is a tale of young passions, Master. Every prior vessel has been a man in the prime of life, a life cut too short. Those are men past their spotlight, secondary actors now, in a drama not their own any longer. And yet- Ah! Even so, their roles are vital, for they led the story our way! _If by chance I talk a little wild, forgive me; I had it from my father."  
_  
Atrum blinked. "Huh?"

"Simple, simple. Awfully simple," Caster shook his head, taking out a book, one of records from those moving out of Fuyuki after it was condemned. "Talent is not bestowed upon simply anyone; it can, that much is true, but it is rare. More often than not, if you look closely, you will know who was born great, who achieved greatness, and who had greatness thrust upon them! Why did Claudius adopt his nephew?"

"Because he married his mother?"

"Exactly! Everything happens for a good reason, that is the basis for compelling conflict. Nothing happens in a void, and if it happens, you failed writing your story. Now, since God is a perfect author, this creation of His cannot have any plot holes, and everything fits with what came before..."

"To the point, Caster!"

"Master, I am trying to make you understand, to see if you can figure it out on your own," Caster still tried on this obvious lost cause, just for the goodness of his heart. No, it was actually to keep on trolling him. "But if you really need the vulgar abridged version, so be it. _Better a witty fool than a foolish wit_ , after all. To find the vessel, our best course of action was looking into those who left Fuyuki, the manifestation site for centuries, and which is now deserted. True?"

"True."

"And it is logical to think that the new host would be connected to either any of your founding families, or to any of the last few men standing in the last War. True?"

"Also true! Wait, are you telling me that-"

Caster nodded with a placid smile. "If these documents you supplied me with are honest- and should they not, the fault lies with you- Waver Velvet has no children of his own, and all those he looks after are unconnected to our precious drama. Father Kotomine only had a daughter, and we are looking for a male protagonist. Out of the three founding families, one is all but extinct, the last one only came to deliver someone unfit for the role, and the last- ah, they only can supply female protagonists as well, I'm afraid. However..."

He pointed successively at the open medical report of a young boy injured in a fire, the local emigration records of a family, underlined in thick red in one of the books, and several annotations of a list of Mahora residents and students, then shouted happily, **" _O Romeo_ , _Romeo!_ _Wherefore art thou, Romeo!?"_**

* * *

Ayako gasped in shock, hastily pulling her skirt back on and watching on as this stranger in red and black clashed against the petite woman- it sounded like she was a woman, at the very least- repeatedly, trashing the classroom and breaking through every seat in their way. The man had just pulled out two short swords out of God knew where and was using them to slash at the woman, who moved like a true living shadow, and whenever he stabbed, a moment later, it would appear he had only cut through black cloth, no matter how apparently lethal the wound had been at first.

It was difficult to describe, even as Shirou grabbed her by a wrist and ran outside with her in tow. Archer smiled then, cutting loose now they weren't around to keep on being collateral damage. He pulled his bow out and began shooting a barrage of- _playing cards?_ Assassin barely could believe it as they flew in every direction, as if springing dementedly from a box of surprises, showering the room so profusely that several of them hit her, managing to cut through her sides and shoulders.

Assassin winced in pain, feeling a burning sensation run through her veins and arteries almost immediately. She looked at one of the razor sharp cards she had just plucked out of her flesh, displaying the maniacal grin of a white faced demon in a jester's cap.

"Funny story behind that one," Archer smiled, pointing an actual, pointy arrow directly at her head. "They say no hero of my era can call themselves as such if they haven't fought _**him**_ at least once. Now, it's been a rough evening for me, and I've heard and seen things that no man should from that perspective, so you won't mind if I take it out on you..."

Poison coated. It barely mattered. She had assimilated the Hassan of Serenity's immunity to toxins, so she repressed the sudden urge to laugh and then simply appeared to split in several pieces of darkness, each springing in a different direction, startling the man. One of them turned the light switch off for her better advantage, submerging the room into darkness as it was nightfall already, outside.

"It'll take more than that..." Archer said, flinching as something stabbed him in a leg then. He jumped over, squinting and trying to make something out; it was not so much that it was extremely dark, he had located enemies in darker close quarters, but that this Assassin had a damn good Presence Concealment, and it'd be difficult landing a good hit on her. "Which Hassan are you?" he said, moving back towards the window, and loading the bow again, this time with a large canister. "I have either fought or read on them all, what manner of pretender-?"

_**"Silence!"**_ she said, finally appearing close enough to strike at him, with an arm shoving forward to his heart. If that technique was what he thought he was, he'd have to move out of the way in time, and he barely did so, ducking under the agitated Assassin and then shooting the incendiary charge at her, without any mercy. She let out a long cry, and then spun around, rolling aside as to put the fire out by rapidly swatting herself. Archer smiled, putting the bow back again and flashing Bakuya and Kanshou out for the coup de grace.

"I see, so you are resourceful but get burnt easily... _Pretender_ ," he growled, lashing at her with a slash, and forcing her back. Damn, he almost could understand Gilgamesh now. They seized each other, crouched in the darkness, and he studied her carefully. Going from what Kiritsugu had said, she was at a disadvantage from merely being fully tangible, but she still appeared to have unique abilities making up for that, ones that she most probably had during life and that made her so damn hard to tag for good regardless. It was as if she could shift her mass into organic shadow, and augment or diminish her density at will.

"A complete stranger to our faith has no reason to criticize," she said. "Why did you save his life? Is that fool your 'Master'? Would you stoop so low, to be naught but a guardsman to a reprobate?"

"Hey, do I look like the kind of man who would follow someone like that? I'm just a passing Hero of Justice, that's all. Executing kids just because they fool in the classroom? Don't you think you're taking things too far?"

"Lenience on sin results in its spread," she lectured. "I would have thought an Agent of Death would have a different approach to this matter."

"What about you, Agent of Eros?" he taunted her. "If you go around killing all flirting men you see, sooner or later you'll kill the future father of-"

_**"Don't even say it!"** _

"Eh?"

"I rebel against that fate!" she growled. "So strong is my faith, so absolute is my determination, I answered the call, not to give myself to the blasphemer calling himself sacred, but to slay him!"

"But, I thought- Are you a man, then?"

"I'm not. However, my gender will not dictate my principles! Were you pure of heart, you would see that wishing upon this alleged 'Grail' is no cause to be pursued either. However, devolving into a concubine or prostitute for him is even worse! Both sets of Servants are unworthy being called Heroes, but my priority lies with killing the women."

"I see..." Archer said, getting up very slowly and never taking his squinting eyes off her. So that was why he could feel that, in a way, she wasn't cutting loose. For her, he was a lesser enemy who just got in her way. "And what does your mistress think of that?"

"I only acknowledge a single Lord."

"What, did you kill her?"

"Why do you ask? Would you avenge her just like you protected those other sinners, Hero of False Justice?"

Archer let out a short, dry laugh. "What a nutcase..."

_**"What have you just said?!"** _

"Listen," he grew serious. "I don't care whether you believe me or not, but I'm not here for the Grail either. I know what it really can do- no, _**what it is intended**_ to do. So if you're worried about me, trying to seize it, don't even bother. Like you, I have my own reasons, and I'm not going to waste mana fighting a zealot who only wants to be a glorified public discipline committee. Shoo, shoo! Just remember, you go after the kid again, I get in your way again. Take it or leave it. I don't have problems finishing this right here and now, if that's what you really want, but do you? Having to keep a physical body and cut from your Master? How long has it been since you had a recharge?"

The large dark eyes narrowed in anger, and then she stepped back, melting into the darkness until he couldn't feel her anymore. He still kept on alert, since it probably was a Presence Concealment trick to keep attacking him, but after enough time, it was clear she was actually gone.

He was still debating inwardly whether he should have finished her there and then or not when he caught up to the kids, sitting on a bench not too far from the school, the boy holding her in his arms. For all he knew, next time he saw her, she'd be trying to kill Rin or Sakura- and yet, he couldn't being sympathetic to someone else who hated the idiotic rules of this kind of Grail War as much as he did. Were he a woman, he'd be finding the whole thing to be even more revolting, he was sure of that, and on that level, he understood Assassin's rage.

All the same, putting her out of her misery would probably have been the nicest thing to do for her.

There was no time for that now, however, as Shirou and Ayako raised their faces to look at him as he approached, like a red and black spectre of death, just one that happened to be on their side. For now at least.

"What," the boy asked him, holding the trembling young lady against himself, "is happening to us?"

Archer had no real answer for that, but he gave one regardless.

"You guys have just found your kink."

* * *

**To be Continued.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Fate/Stay Night_ , _Carnival Phantasm_ , _Fate EXTRA_ , _Fate Extella_ , _Fate Hollow Ataraxia_ , _Fate Grand Order_ , _Fate Zero_ , _Fate Kaleid Prisma Illya_ , _Fate Apocrypha_ , _Fate Prototype_ , _Fate: Today's Menu for the Emiya Family_ , _Fate Requiem_ , _Fate Strange/Fake_ , _Fate School Life_ , _Fate Tiger Colosseum_ , _Fate Unlimited Codes_ , _Fate Capsule Servant_ , _Fate: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files_ and _Fate Type/Redline_ are the creations and intellectual properties of Type-Moon and Nasu Kinoko.

All other franchises and characters mentioned within this story are the intellectual properties of their respective copyright and trademark holders.

* * *

**Fate: Carnal Phantasm.**

* * *

**Act Three.**

* * *

"I can't even get angry about anything anymore, apparently," Kiritsugu said, now standing before Shirou and Ayako, sitting on the edge of his bed. Archer had been promoted to standing by Irisviel, something that apparently had made him somewhat proud, even if Iri herself could only roll her eyes quietly and discreetly at his smile. "Maybe we should just lock you in a box until everything is over, Shirou."

"An excellent idea," Archer approved. "Just make Sella sit on the box all day long and that frees me to look for the other Servants with a clear mind."

"Archer, please shut up," his Master said.

"Yes, sir."

Iri sighed. "I'm not sure I want Sella sitting on the box, I don't want her on maternity leave right now. Maybe we could just put a rock on it and it'd work just as well?"

"Mom!" the boy protested.

"This is all too messed up for words," Ayako muttered, rubbing herself up and down an arm. "Why didn't you ever tell me you were a mage? What were you waiting for?"

"That one's on me, actually," his father said. "I forbade him from sharing anything until he were sure you were going to become, you know, a permanent item. These secrets aren't to be shared lightly, and the prices to be paid for those revealing them are steep."

"Does Illya-chan even know? About any of this, the whole magic thing?"

"No," Shirou sighed. "We're trying to give her a normal life."

"And Rin and Sakura, I have to assume they are mages too?"

Kiritsugu nodded. "Their father fought in the previous Grail War as well."

"He was aiming to get himself pregnant, or his wife? Please tell me it wasn't Rin and Sakura, by now I can believe just anything..."

"No, if the duo of a male Master and his Servant were to get their hands on Shirou, they would chop him to pieces, stuff them into a cup, and make their own Grail to wish upon for absolute power instead," Archer lectured.

"Oh my God, your people are barbarians!" Ayako shuddered. "W-Well, doesn't matter, just in case, I'll buy a day-after-pill, and-"

"Actually," Irisviel interrupted her gently, "that might not work so well, dear. The Grail makes sure its vessel is magically fertile to such a degree that most anticonception measures would be useless. Of course, a preservative should still work just as well as in any other case, but... that ship has already sailed, hasn't it?"

"It's not like we planned for any of this, it just happened!" Shirou blushed deeply, balling his fists on his knees.

Ayako grimaced. "Oh. Oh! O-Okay, in that case, let's just hope nothing happened after all..."

"I told you, Shirou-kun should be super fertile," Iri wagged a finger. "He would have to be, the Grail takes no chances and most vessels lead short lives, so they need to make the most of their time."

Ayako paled horribly. "Ah, hah hah, you know what? I'm not ready to be a mother yet! I'm so sorry, but if that really comes to pass, then I-"

"Ayako-chan!" Irisviel gasped, sounding terribly wounded. "You wouldn't kill Shirou-kun's little baby, would you...?! Not a girl as nice as you...! Mama wants grandkids! Granted, it's perhaps a bit too soon for one as young as me, but I'm not complaining too much..."

"You say that because you're not the one who has to do it!" Ayako bristled. Shirou tried to placate her, but then she just punched him in the arm. "And you won't either, you got the easiest part of the whole process!"

Kiritsugu rasped into his fist. "Ayako-kun, believe me, I understand. Unlike my wife, I'm pro-choice, and I wouldn't blame you for trying to undo Shirou's goof..."

"It was more of a mutual goof, I don't think any of them forced the other," Iri pouted, folding the arms behind her back.

"But," the father of the house kept telling his daughter-in-law of sorts, "I'm afraid there are special complications in a case such as this."

Shirou blinked. "What do you mean, Dad?"

The older man sighed. "I mean, it'd be a magical pregnancy, interruption isn't quite as simple as usual. Once again, the Grail sets mechanisms to make sure its will is carried out as intended. If the Einzbern records are to be believed, back in the Second War, a female Master had second thoughts and tried to interrupt her pregnancy. It, well..."

"The fetus' death rattle sent a magical pulse through her from the inside, burning her alive from her to toe," Irisviel casually said what he was unwilling to speak. "She spent two days and a half in painful agony before finally succumbing." There was a beat. "Then again, that was with the medical system they had back then! Nowadays, they might be able to save your life...!"

"On second thought, picturing that has made me reevaluate the miracle of life in its full splendor!" Ayako said hastily.

Shirou gulped. "In any case, should it come to happen, I... Of course I'll take responsibility, Aya-chan..."

"You'd better, or else!" she grumbled, crossing her arms before realizing something. "Wait, wait, is Rin one of those 'Masters' too?! Then she wants to have your babies! Why, that little sneaky-!"

"No, from what you said, it's evident she thinks Shirou's just another Master, and that I'm his Servant," Archer pointed out. "She has no way of knowing he's the Grail incarnation, I don't think anyone but the five of us knows."

"I know too, now," a drowsy voice said right outside their door, as they heard soft steps shuffling along the hallway, back from the toilet.

"You just go back to sleep already, Leysritt!" Iri snapped as the others sweatdropped. Then she smiled at Ayako, rubbing her hands. "Then it's all decided, my dear daughter! To keep you safe from those awful Masters, we'll call your family and bullshit an excuse so you can stay here with us, spending your days with Shirou-kun in the box! We'll tell them that you are, I don't know, tutoring Illya-chan in Math while you keep on making more cute babies for Mama...!"

"At which point did we ever come to agree on any of that, it's the first time anyone brings it up!" Ayako cried.

Shirou sighed. "That's the way democracy has always worked in this house, actually..."

"Now I realize why Konoemon always sends Takamichi on operations instead of me, nowadays," Kiritsugu mused stoically.

* * *

Two women stood on a rooftop, under the midnight sky. To be precise, only one of them stood and the other woman squatted before her, performing a ritual.

The ritual was, as everything else Caster ever did, primitive looking. The dark skinned, red eyed woman with very short white hair wore a ragged cloak concealing most of her and, from what her Master had seen, very little underneath, her feet bare. She was currently stabbing a cat to death, but only in the throat- and, since this was something her Master had done often herself to cast curses, she did not flinch an eye at it.

"This would work much better," Caster observed, holding the small body down until it stopped breathing, "with a much larger animal."

"I told you, that'd only call too much attention upon ourselves," the pale woman with the sharp black-rimmed eyeglasses and the long, dark grey hair pulled back into a ponytail chided her, ever so elegant in her gray suit and shiny high heeled black shoes, a complete contrast from her Servant's tribal looks. She knew well what manner of animal she was talking about. "Nobody will tolerate a Caster like the Fourth War's anymore."

"It's only a matter of time regardless," Caster shrugged, taking a small bag and spraying fine dust from it on the corpse. "It's foolish to pretend this will end otherwise."

She brought her hands together over the dead cat, closed her eyes, and began whispering a chant in a foreign language, but relative to the Master and the country currently housing them.

"If you are a divine spirit," the Master asked, not really expecting an answer, "who are you praying to?"

"Myself," Caster said, sounding extremely serious, and then kept her prayers on until the cat struggled back to its feet, throat still bleeding even though the wound was closing itself quickly. The Master did not bat an eye now, either. "There," Caster smiled and placed a gentle hand on the wound, finishing its healing, then softly patting the animal's hindquarters. "Go, and spread your gift. My precious child."

The cat, its eyes now hollow and lacking any light, let out an unnatural sound and scurried away, disappearing into the night.

Caster huffed and pulled back to sit down, the cloak obscuring half of her face. "Now we only have to wait."

The other woman frowned, looking at the direction the small dead thing had vanished into. "I suppose I should ask you now. Why do you want a child?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Caster smirked, eyes narrowing as if enjoying a good joke to herself. "I'm the mother to all life after all. That is in my nature, wanting to create, just as much as destroy. A better question is, why do _**you**_ want a child?"

"I'm the last of my lineage, and I won't let my bloodline disappear just lending my name into the Yggdmillennia alliance," she sneered, eyes also squinting, but in grim determination. "All the hopes of my clan were placed onto me, and I _**will**_ prove my talent justified that trust."

"Ah, a matter of ego. Good, good," Caster approved with a faint nod. "For human existences, egos are the sole thing separating them from those of beasts. That is why using a human being would have been much better. It's not about the potential for destruction, an undead elephant might be much more destructive, but a dead man walking will make its fellow man realize the value of his existence, and the tragedy of losing it, much better than anything else."

"An undead elephant," Celenike said, "would just be shot to pieces before long. Too large, too striking to be missed."

"You are missing the point."

After a moment of silence, Caster smiled again. "I like you, despite everything. Yours is a wicked soul, and I suppose that, for your era's standards, so is mine. But what drew me to you was how hollow it is. How it howls for meaning. I find that interesting. I will either give you meaning or kill you."

This being was not like any of those weaker, puny presences the Master liked to prey upon, so she decided ignoring the threat for the most part. "I know my true meaning. I just told you about it."

Caster laughed, a short, dry laugh that was too old for the vibrant, obscene beauty hiding under the rags. "You only chase for the meaning others placed upon you, which is an entertaining thing for such a selfish person to do. Yes, that is why I like you!"

Celenike Icecolle of the Yggdmillennia bristled inside. If she had known this Servant would be so insolent, she would have added the verses for _Mad Enhancement_ \- that way, at least the primordial force of creation and destruction she had sought wouldn't be so damn chatty. Just as she was thinking about that, however, Caster simply fell into a long, contemplative silence, gazing down at the sleeping city, and since Celenike did not wish for any more annoying banter, she fell silent as well.

Hours passed in this manner, which was torture for an impatient woman like her. Just when she was about to yell at Caster that it was dawning already and that her stupid plan had failed, Caster finally gave the little sick smirk again. "Here they come."

The dead cat arrived first, gazing in silence with its dull eyes at the Caster, who smiled and patted its head. Then, after it, a second cat, head lulling aside, fresh bite marks on its neck. A third one, then. A fourth one, before Celenike knew. They appeared by handfuls after that, each moving in a stilted, disjointed fashion, each giving no meow or purr but occasional throaty, low sounds that almost rang like dead laments. Dozens and dozens of them, blanketing the rooftop, and each gazing up at Caster, who now hugged the Patient Zero against herself and stood up with it in her arms.

"The surveillance network you asked for is here, 'Master'," she told the pale woman. "Now what?"

* * *

Matou Shinji was a proud member of the 'Go back home early' club here too, apparently. And his assholery didn't seem to have changed much either, as Archer had observed while following him all day long.

For all appearances, he was still the same Shinji as ever, just transposed to this 'Mahora' academy from Homurahara. A copy paste, if you would. Unlike Issei, he hadn't even cared when Shirou failed to show up at classes all day long. During lunch break, he cracked crass wise with guys who obviously only hung with him for his money, boasting of all the girls who liked him, and Archer could see where all of this was going.

Trouble always started with Shinji, who was the first annoying boss to clear before moving on to untangle the rest of the mess. Archer knew this song routine by heart by now, so even if the exact details were still a bit confusing- had he gone through these events a single time as Shirou and another time as Archer, or was there more to it? Damn partial amnesia, he was feeling like the clown with the Multiple Choice Past already- he still knew starting with Shinji was a good bet.

However, this damn timeline seemed to be dead set on throwing curveballs his way, Shinji didn't seem to be heading for the Matou manor after classes, but towards a large building, also the destination of several other male students in sight. Dormitories, no doubt- was Shinji just going to visit someone there? Archer's astral form moved quickly from one tree to the next, easily keeping up with the purple haired smiling boy's leisure pace. Something didn't feel right, but then again, as far as he knew, the decaying Matou clan only had a home left, that of Fuyuki, by the time of Zouken's death. With Fuyuki a no man's land in this timeline, it made sense that Shinji was forced to live at the school, and the same was probably true of Sakura.

In a way that was a relief, if Sakura had to spend most time away from him, then the creep couldn't be abusing her that much. And yet, EMIYA couldn't help feeling this only made everything more complicated, since things weren't exactly falling into place, and it felt like a large piece of the puzzle was missing.

Fortunately for Archer, the very next moment that same old familiar piece, that of Shinji being a gullible moron who only could think with his groin, came to his aid as the boy heard a pointed sob from a side of the road, one that Archer was quite sure hadn't started until Shinji moved close to that part of the pathway. Next came the buzzing at the back of Archer's mind, that sensation of proximity to another Servant, even as Shinji wandered off the road and into the nearby woods, soon coming to a halt in a small clearing, away from prying eyes.

Archer followed, feeling the sensation grow, and sure enough, he saw what he knew had to be another of the female Servants. Too small to be a Berserker, most likely- the petite size probably fitting a Caster, unless this was Assassin using some manner of disguise- and wearing a junior high uniform suiting her apparent age.

Shinji brought that smug, smarmy smile to his lips, the one Archer always wondered how he never noticed during his youth. "Oh, hey, Imouto-chan," he casually approached the pretty little thing leaning against a tree, sobbing her eyes out melodramatically. "Are you lost? Maybe I can help you. I'm a busy man, but always willing to spare some time for a sweet kouhai in need..."

"Oh, sir, sir!" the girl wailed, and as she did, Archer could notice she actually bore a striking resemblance to Rin's Archer, her hair a light shade of brown rather than black. "If only you knew! A very, very bad man has done a very, very bad thing...!"

"Don't tell me!" Shinji feigned compassion. "For real? Oh, poor dearie, just let Oniichan help you!" he said, coming close, awfully close, and then clenching a little smirk as his hand seized her shoulder. "I'll treat you to a- _ **AAAGH!**_ " he gasped as, suddenly, the little girl spun around, grabbed him tightly by the throat, and slammed him against a large tree's trunk.

"Once upon a time," the little girl growled, her voice now that of a grown woman, threatening and harsh, "a very bad, cruel, piece of human sewage threw a very defenseless, innocent young lady into a pit and made her suffer," she continued, eyes burning as Shinji choked and uselessly tried prying her fingers off. "Did you know that story, _**worm?!"**_

"Wha, wha gha GHA!" Shinji shouted, face growing blue as the girl looked at his hands and Archer frowned curiously. He could see, too, that there were no Command Seals burning on his flesh right now, and surely, if dying, a coward like Shinji would automatically summon his Servant to his side. The girl still kept on squeezing the life out of him, for a few moments afterwards. Archer was pondering whether he actually would have to save Shinji's sorry ass, which was a ridiculous thing to do when he already was safekeeping Shirou, but a moment later, she made the decision for him, throwing the gaping, wheezing Shinji on the grass.

"If you know what's good for you, Oniichan," she told him, going back to that same girlish, cutesy voice, but now mocking and contemptful, "you'll stay very, very far from the Grail War, unlike your grandfather!"

"What, what, is this about that crap?!" Shinji growled, rubbing his throat and wincing. "You crazy bitch, I wouldn't touch that shit with a ten foot pole after what happened to us! We lost our fucking house and most of our money, are you outta your fucking mind?!"

"All the more reason," she told him, "to try again and regain what you lost, Oniichan. Don't you think...?"

"E-Even if I wanted to, I can't do any of that shit, period!" Shinji shouted, moving his arms into an 'X' shape. "Those impurities in our blood died with the old man, and good riddance! G-Get away or I'll yell for help! Help! Campus police...!"

"The little girl yelled too," the Servant nodded, walking back into the forest, and glancing humorlessly in Archer's direction before disappearing into the bushes. "Never forget that, Oniichan..."

And then she was gone.

Shinji screamed in terror, scrambled around for his scattered things, and ran away for the dormitories, as Archer could only blink to himself in surprise. Well, that left one of the usual suspects out of the board, didn't it? And yet, once again, rather than making the game easier, this unknown factor had only-

Then he felt a familiar presence behind him, and he sighed deeply. This game, it was so fucking rigged. For each surprise it gave you, next it threw a familiar factor, just to keep you guessing.

"What Class are you, Peeping Tom?" asked the man standing on the thick branches of the next tree, and Archer glanced back, more in annoyance than anything, at the long red spear aimed at him from the other Servant's higher vantage point. There he was, bathed by the last few rays of the afternoon sun, the same electric blue hair, the same blue bodysuit, the same red eyes and cocky grin. Cu Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster. Professional pain in the ass, because OF COURSE Archer needed another one right now. "Looking for kids getting frisky rather than foes to fight, Red Man?"

"I was wondering," Archer said, slowly pulling the bow out and ready to flip aside as soon as Gae Bolg even began a twitch, "when you'd show up, Lancer."

"Oh, no, obviously you're Caster instead, because you're clairvoyant! Whatever gave me out?" Lancer asked sarcastically. "I'm the groundskeeper. And I don't take it kindly to child stalkers around these parts."

"I think you missed one last night," Archer replied. "With any luck you'll meet her soon enough and you'll off each other. Or what? Do you want me to kill you instead?"

"I'd love to close that big mouth," Lancer admitted. "But like I told you, I'm just the groundskeeper."

_Ah,_ Archer though. _Working errands for Kirei again_. "But that's no excuse!" he chuckled bitterly. "Let me guess, you were told you could fight if you were seen...?"

"No, I'm not to fight unless the other guy starts it, regrettably," Lancer said, moving the spear and challenging him. "But you sure look like a helpful guy! So make my day, give me the excuse!"

What the hell, that didn't sound like Kirei's MO after all. He doubted. "You know... You know that girl attacking that brat was a Servant as well, don't you?"

"Of course I know, do you think I'm an idiot? Pay attention, I said I can't fight unless I'm attacked!"

"You also said you don't stand for kids being attacked, and yet you let her have her way," Archer pointed out.

"I was about to move in, but then some huge cretin in red was in my way," Lancer sneered. "Are you fighting or not?!"

What a pain. Archer didn't even bother answering as he vanished away. "H-Hey, come on, I mean it, you coward!" the Celtic Hercules gasped. "What kind of Heroic Spirit are you, at least I have an excuse! Come back here, you... Dammit!" Lancer slammed Gae Bolg down before disappearing again.

Someday, he was going to show that stupid old man...!

* * *

The first command, and Caster and the Master could agree about it, had been reasonable enough; Caster couldn't use his magic to ever harm the Master.

Now, the second command, Caster had taken offense to that one. He had to gather young women and children around the city using his _The Globe_ Noble Phantasm and take them to the Master's workshop. There, Master would make use of their bodies before grinding them into magical gemstones.

Though born from a humble town, Caster fancied himself a man of class and etiquette, with everything that implied. He certainly was familiar with the follies and vices of the royals he would write for, and he could turn a blind eye to them easily. Even so, taking an active part in them... it felt demeaning, in a way. Perhaps not so much for pure moral reasons, but even so.

Master hadn't used the third Command Seal yet, but he was a painfully predictable man, and Caster knew he would use it to make him commit suicide as soon as the Grail was reached. Well, that just wouldn't do.

So predictable he was, that Caster found him as easily as ever, in his favorite room, the one where he would take the young women into right before being finished with them. He was completely naked, back turned on the door, roughly taking a young lady who was bound by her wrists and ankles, each limb attached to a wall so she was spread forcefully. A poor lovely creature, shapely, long haired, healthy and succulent, all curves in all the correct places. Full breasts and wide, firm hips, her body not wasted by the miseries of her lifestyle yet.

Yes, the Caster decided, she should suffice for the role he needed an actress for.

"What do you want?" Atrum Galliasta grunted, not deigning to look back, and without a sound, Caster drew a sharp tipped writing quill from his coat and threw it, piercing the back of the Master's neck. "Can't you see I'm busAAAIIIEEEEE!"

"I honored the terms of our agreement," Caster calmly said as Atrum dropped back, off the shrieking woman's nude body, his erection yanked back and spilling seed on the floor. "All your magic, nothing of it mine."

Indeed, for Master had thought nothing of letting Caster watch as he used his poisons on his test subjects before taking their lives. Caster had allowed the Master the thought he shared his pleasures, but in truth he just observed, with the cool and detached attitude of a craftsman over life and death, a judge of the convenience of drama or mirth, according to the situation. He only wished to learn, to assimilate more material to incorporate into his lore, and by Jove, this particular bit of trivia had proved to be useful.

"Mightier than the sword indeed," Caster smiled, moving over to check on the twitching, vacant eyed Master as he gasped incoherently. In his hubris, he had explained every function of the toxin- fast acting, efficient to such a degree Caster had learned he wouldn't have to worry about that pesky last Command Seal as long as his aim was true. Master surely couldn't have a single logical thought in that or any other regard, reduced to foaming off the mouth, but Caster, for the sake of narrative richness, still stroke his own beard and told him, carefully, "So... this is what killing a man feels like. It is... strangely unfulfilling, but then you hardly were a worthy man in any regard. Back to killing characters, I suppose!"

In truth, Master wasn't dead yet, the fast action and the efficiency regarded the higher functional parts of the human mind. Like a dying animal, he could still feel the same long drawn pain he had inflicted upon so many others, which was, all in all, a typical but functionally pleasing sort of dramatic come around. It also was part of Caster's first scheme, as he would vanish himself if the buffoon died too soon, before a replacement could be found.

Fortunately, there was no need to look too far.

_"But wait, what's that light in the window over there?"_ Caster mused aloud, taking his coat off and approaching the trembling, hysterically sobbing female, who tightened her legs together as best as she could. _"It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon..."_

"P-P-Please don't hurt me!" she shrilled, throwing her head back to look at him. "D-D-Don't kill me, I beg you, I'll do anything...!"

And then, softly, he only placed the coat on her nakedness, covering her to the best of his capacities. "Killing you? Oh, no, no, I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding. I apologize if I ever gave the impression I was a willing participant of your misfortune. I wish there had been some other way. But alas!" He walked around her to stand in front of the tear struck face, paternally patting her head. "I won't ask for your forgiveness, for I'm not truly repentant either. I'm not enough of an actor to feign that. But that doesn't mean I don't have your best interests in mind, from now on."

"W-Wh-Who... Who are you?" she hiccuped, still shrinking away from him as much as she could.

Kindly, he began undoing the ties holding her hands. "Currently? I'm a man scouting for talent. I realize you must have been told that before, more than often, and that might be why you were in those streets in the first place... Ah, but I'm so different from all others! I don't want you for your body. I want you because another wants your body. Hmmmm, on second thought, that _**might**_ be what they told you after all..."

"Wha-Wha-What?!"

"Never mind," he shrugged, and proceeded to free the panicking woman's legs now. "Listen, out of all these poor disgraced souls, I could feel you had the most potential for a leading lady. Will you need a stage name, I wonder? How are you called?"

"R-R-Reika. Rikudou Reika!" she gulped.

"Ah, Reika, a simple but elegant name. It will do," he decided, nodding to himself and stepping back as she, freed already, sat on the floor and hugged the coat against herself, shivering uncontrollably. This was going better and better, Caster determined. What a twist of the plot! Men only could summon male Servants, but there was no law saying Mastery could not be transferred to a female, after the fact. Eros and Thanatos, then, in a joint course. All for the sake of an unpredictable outcome. Which pulsion would emerge the victor? He was eager to find out, himself. "What will it be? A tragedy, or a comedy?"

"E-E-Excuse me?"

"You'll have to lose the stutter, we can't have you falling prey to stage fright at the middle of your performance," the Bard wagged a finger. "No problem, we can work on that while we find the stagehands."

"The... The what?!"

"The muscle, the heavy hitters if you will," the strange man said, his mind seeming to go in some manner of inwardly perverse joyful overdrive. "Neither of us can fight, but that is fine! We can get over that as long as my good eye for hires remains this sharp! _There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries."_

"I... I don't understand."

Ah. As much of an ignorant as the previous Master, but with much better an excuse. It didn't matter. She would get better. If not, well, they could do this all over again, at the very least. He smiled and patted her cheek. "You will see, your line of work makes you ideal for the task ahead of us. No, no, it's not what you're thinking!" he laughed at her renewed fear. "I'm married to my craft, and she's a very jealous mistress! And you, naturally, are a temptress, one born to enforce your allure and draw men to your web. You just need some honest coaching so it's not the other way around... and you end up, you know, like this, again. Leave that part to me. I'm a much better Pygmalion than that Shaw scoundrel could ever be."

"You... You want me to work for you?"

Ah, at last, understanding. To be frank, she was somewhat faster on the take than the previous management, that much was becoming clear.

William Shakespeare dropped to a knee before her, hand on his heart. "No, I wish to work for you. _Master."_

* * *

Deep into the woods, far away into the hills, distant even when compared to Evangeline Mc Dowell's cottage, there was an ancient castle built on stone.

It was smaller than the one that stood, now in ruins, close to Fuyuki, and there was only another one the Einzberns had built close to a Japanese core of magical power back in the days when they were close with the Tohsakas, that being the abandoned Kyoto castle. Deserted for decades, visited only briefly during the Third War, it was all but forgotten by everybody by now.

Fitting, then, for a forgotten child's home.

She sneered, marching at the lead of a small party of three, braving through labyrinthic hallways covered in dry, dead spider webs and submerged in darkness. A diminutive, dark skinned girl, strikingly similar to Illyasviel von Einzbern, wrapped in the thick furs of a coat, hat and boots better suited for colder climates than the relative tropical state Japan had fallen into for the last fifteen years. Her long hair was pinkish, her eyes golden, opposed to the red of those of that pale, white haired lady walking right behind her and dutifully holding a lantern.

"What a pain," the little girl said, "it'll take longer tidying up than what we'll be spending living here. Are you sure you can do this on your own, Filia?"

"Yes," this woman said. "Please give me a couple of days, Lady Chloe. I promise it will be a worthwhile fortress for you by then."

"Taking you for your word!" the child said, shaking a finger at her. Closing the formation, a much taller woman, towering over both the tiny person and the slender, expressionless homunculus, made a deep growl. "What is the problem, Avenger? I thought you were used to worse!"

The voluptuous female with extremely long violet hair hissed deeply, like the giant serpent sprouting from her firm lower back and slithering behind her, across the dust. The tiny pieces of black armor that barely covered the modesty of her crotch and her large breasts contrasted starkly against her white flesh, and her eyes were hidden under a crusty, hardened black band, and her hands and feet ended in large, sharp claws.

"No, I _**lived in**_ worse. It doesn't mean I ever got used to it..."

"Ah," the last Einzbern heiress said, shoulders shrugging vaguely. "Yes, well, that's the way the cookie crumbles."

Avenger looked down at her, this pitiful small creature, so frail and vulnerable when compared to her own power. If not for all the Magic Circuits running within her, she would be even less than the other doll. "You should," she growled, "start taking this seriously, child. Or I will stop humoring you..."

"I'm as serious as I need to be, Gorgon," the girl said, stopping before the closed door at the end of the hallway and rapping her knuckles on it, demanding. Filia stepped ahead, kicked the door off its hinges, and they entered the room, devoid of any furniture, its sole feature being a window overlooking the Mahora area, with a clear view of the gigantic World Tree, and the sleeping academy. Beyond it, the city, and further into the distance, the three other main schools, the stylized architecture of Ohtori, the functional style of the Clamp Gakuen, and the ominous, oppressive figure of Honnouji. Chloe smiled. "I think I'll take this one," she mused. "Out of all of them, I like this vantage point the best."

"As you say," Filia lowered her head while Avenger, the monster woman of yore, sniffed the rancid air with disgust, the same disgust she showed for everything and everyone else.

The little dark girl rested her arms on the window's frame, not minding if she dirtied her elbows, and frowned at this quiet, peaceful night. "Yes," she said after several moments. "And that's how it has to be."

* * *

"I have to warn you," Professor Velvet had said back then. "I know his type. He will drive you insane. He will endanger your life, during a short span enough that it'll be over before you realize it, more times than you will be able to count afterwards, _**if**_ you survive it. You will never really understand him until you are much older, and even then, you'll be left wondering, more than once, about the things he said and did. But, if you manage to go through all of that, and you stick by his side no matter what..."

He sighed deeply, and his grip on Caules' shoulders grew even tighter. "... then, maybe, you will become a man, no, a better man, all thanks to him."

Sometimes, Caules had to wonder if the Professor actually took him for an idiot, which was so unfair when Flat was right there, next to him, all the time. Why wasn't Flat the one dealing with THIS shit right now anyway? He would be loving every minute of this!

_**"YAHOOO!"**_ his Servant howled as the motorcycle sped through the streets of Academy City, full throttle, and all the terrified smaller, younger man could do was clutching onto his muscular, hard rock body from behind, praying inwardly for dear life. "This city is GOOOOOOLDEN! So much to see, so much to do, and that's before we even start fighting, too! What a time, what a time to be alive...!"

In times like these, Caules Forvedge of the Yggdmillennia only could wonder what had he ever done, in this life or a prior one, to offend the Supreme Being or whatever passed for one. That was, there HAD to be someone or something like that, since the chain of events that had brought him to this point only could be the result of a higher intelligence at work, and machinating against him for some reason that escaped him.

The blond man in the open shirt and the all too tight leather pants shook a fist wildly as he rode. "WHOO! WHOOO! WHOOOO! Who's going to shatter yer ass, Graily-Man?! We! Gonna Do! We! Gonna Do! Sing along, Master, come on! Put those pipes to work...!"

"YOU'RE GONNA GET US KILLED, YOU IDIOT, SLOW DOWN ALREADY...!"

"Whoa! The volume's alright, but the lyrics are all off...!"

"YOU HAVE JUST MADE THOSE LYRICS UP YOURSELF AND YOU KNOW IT!"

The brown haired, bespectacled young man only could hope that his sister was faring any better. Much, much better than him, actually...

Surely, that couldn't be too high a bar to clear.

* * *

The black and red kimono was discarded by a corner, and so were the white socks and undergarments. So the black haired girl was completely naked as she drew.

Sitting on the floor with a drawing pad held against her smooth legs, this Oriental beauty smiled faintly as her slender fingers worked, moving her pen across the sketching board. Her soft flesh starkly pale, her lips as thin as her nose was small. In the tub only a few steps before her dainty feet, water splashed rhythmically, along the moans of the Master.

"Oh... yes... That's it. Deeper... thicker, thicker, make it thicker..."

"Yes, yes," the young woman with the shorter hair of the two said kindly, as Sessyoin Kiara shivered in pleasure. Her delicate strokes worked on capturing the beauty of that twisting mouth, flawless white teeth sinking into her lower lip. Master was a thing of sensual splendor, whatever else could be said of her, even when covered on black tentacles squeezing and fondling all over her voluptuous body, her large breasts poking above the surface, stiff nipples pointing at the bath's ceiling. "Such a glutton. That's not a virtue I ever associated with the faithful."

"Mine, mine is a different faith, that is why it's the true path," Master groaned, head lulling back, long brown hair trailing over the edge of the bath, freed from the austere veil. One of her hands helped the dark tendrils molesting her bosom, as the other remained underwater, stroking repeatedly at the clitoris while more of the viscous extensions of otherworldly flesh pistoned into her most private cavity. "You are truly talented, yes..."

"Oh, thank you so very much," the Servant said vacantly, a foot tapping its toes down for a moment, as a tiny octopus of bulging eyes floated in contemplative circles around her head, lingering frequently at the portrait she was drawing. "I would like to know, is the Grail going to feel even better than that?"

_"I am... certain...!"_ Kiara hissed, and then went rigid in the throes of an orgasm, clenching her teeth. She finally relaxed her body and rested her head back on the floor, while the heavy mass quickly dissolved from her. "It is the culmination of man's efforts, the ultimate device to deliver both life and death. We only have to obtain it before those who would use it for the latter," she added after catching her breath back, with an intoxicated smile. "Then we will experience a whole new level of understanding, a Nirvana beyond all senses, the manner of achievement that will make us truly evolve into what we were meant to be."

"Yes," the younger looking woman said, with a glint to her violet eyes. The hovering octopus moved back and forth, as if nodding, and producing a curious, bubbling sound. "We can't wait to illustrate it, to be the first to ever depict anything like that! You look forward to it too, don't you, Father?" she asked, smiling sweetly at the diminutive creature, no bigger than her fist.

The nude nun licked her own lips all over. "Foreigner," she purred, crooking a finger seductively towards her. "Come to me."

"I haven't finished yet," the girl said studiously.

"We have plenty of time to finish that sketch. Let me reward your efforts," Kiara invited, and Foreigner, with a good humored chuckle, stood up, carefully setting the pad aside. She walked into the water, and she was embraced lovingly, hugging back and pressing those voluminous breasts against hers. Their mouths met, and their tongues wrangled together, with a sloppy, slobbery sound of hunger and need.

Kiara's hands fondled the firm, supple meat of Foreigner's perky buttocks, the octopus' short tentacles shaking ecstatically as it watched on them from above. Foreigner closed her eyes and allowed herself to be pleasured, Master moving her head down to kiss her chest, to suckle on the pale pink nipples, and bit by bit moving her towards an edge in more than a sense.

Securing her in place, Kiara smirked evilly, held one of Foreigner's legs up, and moved her genitals so they would align with hers, rubbing them together while her free thumb massaged on the Servant's clitoris. It was Foreigner's turn to moan now, as deep under the church, away from prying ears and eyes, the two engaged, once again, in a profane communion of mutual hedonism.

They say true art is, after all, a transgression by its very nature. So is a shift in the paradigms of belief. It was no mistake to say, then, that the stars had aligned to bring Kiara and Foreigner, this extreme irregularity in an already broken ritual, to a happy marriage of convenience.

Kindred spirits, in more than one fashion. But above all things, kindred flesh.

* * *

Ayako just couldn't sleep.

The brown haired girl rolled around on the futon she had been given, in one of the guest rooms.

She had tried sleeping for hours, but she couldn't keep Shirou out of her head. As insane as this whole situation was, the longer she spent being aware of it, the more she wanted to be with him no matter what. She was well aware this was the logical- or rather illogical- opposite of what she should be thinking now, but now she only could think of enjoying his touch again, of feeling him within her anew, to kiss him and hold him no matter what.

This was... weird as literal fuck, actually, while she had always liked him a lot, her feelings for him didn't ever seem this violent before. She supposed there was a certain taboo thrill about all of this, a sense of danger and excitement on this whole exotic predicament, and she smiled to herself, considering how that indeed was a change from her usual mundane routine.

No wonder Shirou-kun had those quixotic dreams about being a Hero of Justice, if he came from a world where those things were actually possible. Before, Ayako had taken it for granted that they were fanboyish illusions, like those other boys and girls their age had when watching Superman or Thor in the news, but she supposed that, for the standards of magi, that sort of stuff was even... normal to consider. It gave one a lot to think about.

The thing was, right now, Ayako didn't want to think. She just wanted to be taken by Shirou-kun again, to be reassured she was more important than any sorceress or any legendary woman from the past, and mostly, to feel that hot seed spilling into her once more. To do what she'd heard from other girls in the club while Sakura blushed and looked aside. _C'mon!_ she told herself. _Now you finally have the chance, and you're turning it away...?!_

After all, she apparently was in this for good regardless of what she did from now on, wasn't she? Might as well enjoy it, while it lasted.

Sighing and chastising herself for how foolish she was being, the girl got up, walked to the bedroom's door, and peeked outside warily. Sella-san and Leysritt-san, against her expectations, were not standing guard anywhere. Then again, knowing this family, she probably was still being watched regardless, but-

_Oh, what the heck. You only live once!_

Mitsuzuri made her way to Shirou's room without any difficulties, amazingly enough, and even found his door wasn't locked. She walked in without knocking, closing the door back after herself, and found him just sitting on his futon, bathed by the moonlight projected on him through the window, in nothing but his pants.

"I was... I was thinking of you," he admitted, his eyes fixed on her.

"So was I," she admitted, stepping closer and pulling the pajama shirt up and over her head. "I can't take it anymore. Let's do it again."

"Are you sure? We still don't know if-"

She sighed, pulling her pants down, and standing before him in her bra and panties. "No, of course I'm not sure. I'm not sure about anything anymore, except that I'm not making it to the dawn if I keep this antsy. Fuck me, Shirou-kun. We don't even know if we'll ever get another chance."

He tried to laugh. "Come on, that's just an exaggeration, as long as we stay here, I can keep you... safe..." he gulped as she dropped to her knees before them, unzipping his pants and pulling his hard length out. "Aya-chan, I-"

"I know, I know," she said, trembling and shyly blowing on the tip, getting a close look at the faint wetness on it. She drew the longest breath of her life in and began rubbing in her hand, going from a combination of conjecture and class gossip behind Taiga's back. "T-Tell me if I'm doing anything wrong, right? I think you guys really like this, right...?" Well, she was ninety nine percent sure they did, but you never know. Just in case everything she thought she knew proved being a lie. Again.

"Aaaaaannnhhhhh... Aya-chan!"

It didn't sound like Shirou-kun was finding this actually uncomfortable.

So Ayako closed her eyes, tried to control her heartbeat and breathing alive and took the plunge, lowering her head to take the pulsating, oddly smelling thing into her mouth, as deeply as it could possibly go.

_**"ANH!"**_ he shouted, fingers scratching against the floor.

Sitting right outside the window, a mangy, scruffy large cat missing an eye watched down in silence, as Ayako kept on sucking Shirou, and Shirou reached over to undo her bra, letting it drop, and then cupping the free breasts in his hands. She kept on trying, practicing the motions until she had enough of it, and she pulled back to satisfy her own need.

With a solemn air befitting a dutiful wife, Ayako stepped back, pulled her panties down, and moved ahead again, squatting on his member and slowly impaling herself into it. She cried out happily in the pleasure she had been looking for, and began moving up and down on the erection as he hissed her name, throwing his head back.

Flesh slapped against flesh, and the cat moved away, disappearing as unnoticed as it had arrived.

* * *

"This is Mr. Archer, he will be working with me on a few projects over the next few weeks," Daddy introduced him during breakfast. "Don't get nervous if you see him walking around the house in the middle of the night, that is perfectly normal and I approve of it."

Illya blinked at this good looking stranger who appeared to be of foreign origins, tanned, white haired and wearing glasses that made him look so intellectual, and who smiled benevolently at her.

He waved at her. "Really pleased to meet you, Illya-chan."

"Okayyyy..." she finally said, somehow suspecting some manner of foul play being involved. "Does this have anything to do with your walking me to the school and back now, Daddy? What has Fuji-nee's family being doing lately?"

"It's nothing like that, if were under the cross sights of the Honnouji mafia again, we wouldn't have brought Ayako-chan, would we?" Irisviel smiled saintly, reaching over to pat Illya's head.

Illya's pout, if anything, just intensified as she glared at Ayako and Shirou, who once again sat strangely close to each other, and briefly appeared to flinch back under her scrutinizing eyes. "I guess not..." she finally allowed.

"Daddy is only worried the Sakura Lane vampire will come out of nowhere in your way to classes or back and bite your neck...!" Iri said then, arms shooting up as she made a pathetically lame attempt at a murderous vampiric face.

"... isn't that just a story teachers made up so sempais wouldn't keep dating late at nights?" Illya retorted, unflappable.

That was the history of Illya's life, though. Every so often, Mom and Dad would start doing weird things, like placing another wall around the front and back yards, or disappearing for months without calling or sending e-mails, and... you really got used to it, after a while, just like you got used to the weird perfect girl in the classroom, or Oniichan bringing his girlfriend over. Really, it wasn't like Illya to complain over her lot in life, she liked to think she was mature enough for that, but sooner or later, there comes a point where enough unexplained weirdness is just enough, and then there's only one thing you can do...

"So I came here and just had to vent out or I'd explode!" Illya said during lunch break, between bites from her sandwhich, surrounded by her best friends. "There, now I feel much better, thanks a lot, everyone!"

"You... You actually haven't done anything but telling us about it, though," the pink haired Moriyama Nanaki pointed out. "The way you began the story, it sounded like you really had a course of action in mind..."

"Well, what am I supposed to do, move out?!" Illya threw her hands up, after leaving the half eaten sandwich on her lap. "If any of you has any suggestions, I'm all ears! Mimi-chan?"

"Er, um, actually, I, I don't know if I could truly tell you what to do, I mean, my knowledge on these things is not so, you know, ah, what I'm trying to say is-" the dark haired, pitifully shy Katsura Mimi began.

"I have no idea what are you complaining at all, your family is clearly perfectly normal," the blond haired Gakumazawa Tatsuko said, somehow managing to speak with perfect clarity despite having her mouth full with the banana she was hungrily stuffing down.

"Cocone-chan?"

"..." Cocone Fatima Rosa said, and then shook her head very slowly.

"Nanoha-chan!?" Illya's tone turned into that of desperation.

The red haired Takamachi Nanoha blinked. "You know... to some degree I agree with Tatsuko-chan, what's so weird about Oniichans bringing their girlfriends over to live with the family? Mine did just that, sometimes he, Miyuki-neechan and Shinobu-neesan even throw pijama parties lasting all night long... I wonder why they'll never let me join, though."

The rest of the girls shared a look. "We really need telling her someday," Tatsuko spoke for them all.

Nanoha blinked again. "Telling me about what?"

"Never mind," Illya sighed. "Suzuka-chan?"

The bespectacled Kurihara Suzuka, normally one of the first to pipe in as soon as a private issue was brought up as a topic, had not been really herself of late, and so it was only now that she spoke, rasping and clearing her throat. "W-Well, based from your previous experiences, maybe everything will just sort itself out if you shrug it off until it goes away? You said it yourself, there's not much you really can do."

"Is that the strategy you're using with that gaijin who's exploiting you?" Tatsuko asked bluntly, spreading peanut butter on her next peeled banana.

"Yvette-sempai isn't exploiting me," Suzuka said between clenched teeth, "she's just giving me a very generous, well paid part time job to help me cover my extra expenses..."

"If you've got so much extra money now, why won't you ever buy us any extra food?" Tatsuko insisted.

"And you aren't sleeping well either," Illya added, worried for her. "If you're being forced to do anything you don't want to do, you should contact Arai-sensei... um, well, no, she probably wouldn't be of much help... or Caren-sensei... no, no, that's a bad idea too... or, um, Kitam- no, no, _**definitely**_ scratch that one off... Well, now I remember why I never tell any adults about these things," she hummed, stroking her chin in contemplation.

"Oh, fine, you finally got me!" Suzuka told them. "Sempai has me working during nights as her Magical Girl slave to capture living cards wrecking havoc across the city, happy now?!"

The other girls stared blandly at her, except for Cocone, who just raised an eyebrow.

"If you really don't want to tell us anything, just say it so and we'll understand," Illya said, then looking towards the tree the low _Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii_ sound had been emanating from the whole time, filling the background. "Weird Girl? What about you?"

The dark haired, very beautiful, golden eyed recently arrived exchange student who had been hiding behind the tree staring at Illya as usual took a moment or two to actually realize it was her Illya was talking to.

"D-Do... Do you mean me?" she asked with a voice soft and passive enough to make Cocone sound like Taiga in comparison, regardless.

Illya nodded patiently at this stranger who did nothing but outdoing everyone at everything with no real effort, stand aside from everyone, and stare at Illya a lot. Maybe she hated her for some reason or something, but it still was worth asking. "You were listening the whole time, weren't you?"

The girl gulped and began fidgeting in slow motion, as if trying to understand how fidgeting was done by human beings. "Uhh, I suppose I was, to some degree, but..." Then her cellphone rang, and with something that almost sounded like a small sigh of relief, she picked it up. "Y-Yes? Ah. Yes," her voice suddenly assumed a cold, professional tone. "I understand. I will be there," she nodded, then pocketed the phone back and bowed deeply at the confused classmates. "My apologies, but I'm needed," she said, right before speeding away at a speed that, Cocone noted, even Misora would need to push herself to exceed.

"... what in the world was THAT about?!" Illya demanded to know, stray hairs suddenly springing up from her head.

"Ah, yes, I think she's a fellow slave to a foreigner, maybe she and Suzu-chan should form a syndicate or something," Tatsuko shrugged, drinking from a thermos of coffee.

"I'M NOT ANYONE'S ACTUAL SLAVE THOUGH!" Suzuka screeched angrily.

* * *

Fuyuki City had been a deserted wasteland for a whole decade now.

Officially sealed from the rest of Japan, access was strictly forbidden to all but a small handful of authorized staff from the Defense Forces, the Magic Associations, and the Church. Of course, should anyone else find a way around the barriers and seals and actually venture through the borders of this dead city, they would find themselves wondering why nobody had ever bothered to rebuild.

Birds chirped once again on the ruins, and flowers grew amidst the wreckage. With stubborn tenacity, life had found a way to flourish again after the disaster. The tall, black haired man with the hollow eyes found this trait of the world itself both admirable and despicable, and in a way, it was easy for him to see how humanity, indeed, were Earth's own children, as much as they both could protest it.

Clad in black pants, hiking boots and a fully zipped up jacket, the lone traveler wandered across the mostly silent sector, under a clear blue sky. This hypothetical intruder, had they been taking the same path as him, would have noticed by now how Nature's triumphant return, after a close analysis, was not as complete as it appeared at first. For one, no trees had survived the catastrophe, and none had grown ever since. Even more disturbing would have been the realization that, when one took a closer look, the birds and insects were all slightly deformed, not enough as to be striking as separate cases, but still deeply unsettling when considering the whole.

As for the man, he did not mind. As a servant of the faith, he held all creatures equal to the eyes of his Lord. He might differ from his peers in that this God would look at them all with equal contempt rather than equal love, but the sensation of equality, by itself, remained the same in his soul now as it had been before the War.

He made it to the old church eventually, his Father's house and his father's home at once. The latter was long dead already, and as for the former, well, if Kotomine Kirei had it his way, that way would be taken eventually, too.

He entered the blackened ruins in a contemplative silence, and if he squinted, he almost could see his father and Tohsaka Tokiomi again, standing together and chatting amiably. Never minding the faint spectres of the mind, he walked past and through them, heading for the secret door at the end of the building, behind the shattered confession booths. He struggled to find it at first- it had been two full years since his last visit, and he never had enough free time to come even before then- but eventually pulled it open, gently, turning his flashlight on and descending into the abyss, down creaking steps that protested under his every step.

He stopped at the bottom, by the weakly shivering mass of cadaveric bodies, emaciated figures bearing the ravages of time, staring up at him with large sunken eyes that begged for death. Some had managed to grow a little, but most had shrivelled further than ever, pale skin draped around trembling bone. None of them made a sound, just like last time.

"Did you come to pay tribute as well?" asked the deep, rich voice coming from behind now, and Father Kirei lowered his head respectfully.

"No," he said. "I just came to make certain everything was in order before returning." He turned around, slowly, and bowed to the tall man, a divinely handsome, proudly smiling vision of confident virility, flashing him a white smirk under the knowing malice of serpentine red eyes. The King in all his youthful splendor, as golden in presence as his hair, not having aged a day ever since then. No, that was a lie. He had aged, several years, but only after reaching childhood again, making sure of walking that natural path back, slowly, to stand now as he had been during the days of the War. "Pleased to see you again, King of Heroes. Even though I am confused on why you, of all people, would pay tribute to these unfortunate souls."

"Fool," the man clad in the everyday fatigues of a traveling athlete chuckled softly, eyeing the trapped, ruined forms that had once been children. "They are my best and most devoted subjects, who have given everything for me. I wouldn't be fit to call myself their King if I were to ignore their sacrifice!"

Kirei nodded slowly. "As ever, I am reminded by you of my ignorance on the affairs of a King. Please enlighten me further, what have you decided on the subject of this world since our last conversation?"

The other man took a moment to answer. "It is true that this era... is not as hopeless as I had feared. Once again, champions have started rising to guide the fate of men. My lessers, obviously, but it's still more than I expected. I'm not impressed, however. Whether they call themselves gods or aliens, amazons or sovereigns of the sea, they fail to grasp their intended role. They place themselves as their masses' shepherds, rather than the rightful masters of their civilization. So be it. Should they neglect their call, I will reclaim the keys of the kingdom back for myself!"

For once, a small smile tugged on the corners of Kirei's normally expressionless, dry lips. "I wouldn't have expected any less from you."

Gilgamesh of Uruk, First of Heroes, sneered. "Don't assume you can predict me, mongrel. You seem to be taking it from granted that I will be helping your purposes, but it is you who will serve my cause, should you know what is the best for you."

"I don't crave the accolades of leadership in this or any other enterprise," the dark haired man answered, all honesty. "All I could ever care about is the result, the realization of this path we have set for ourselves. I know you can guarantee that achievement, if anyone ever could, and just as before, I will stand behind you every step of this way, Gilgamesh."

"Well," a third voice said then, and both men narrowed their eyes dangerously at the source of this sound. "Isn't this sweet, a rekindling of such a deep old friendship? Quite romantic, if I may say so."

On small, white bare feet, a figure as graceful and perfumed as a fairy in a white dress skipped out of the foul smells and distressing darkness of the basement. Even more than the Golden King's magnificence, her bright, happy smile brought a ray of light and hope upon such bleak surroundings, as she leaned ahead in a curtsy, like the true princess she was, heading lulling into the deep scar marking her throat.

Behind her, standing in silence, her knight in shiny armor, the twisted, tall horns of a demon jutting from an all concealing helmet hiding everything but intense, seething eyes. By the knight's side, a sharp, long, white and red blade, ready to be drawn out at the slightest excuse.

"But I beg you, enough of those pleasantries for now, gentlemen," Sajyou Manaka requested gently. She raised her angelic smile at them. "Let us talk about Mahora."

* * *

**To be Continued.**


End file.
